Intelligence Agencies Concur With Scientific Consensus That Virus Was Not Man-Made
President Donald Trump has pushed the idea that the coronavirus was manufactured in a Chinese lab, though scientists studying it say that it comes from nature. Intelligence agencies were directed by the White House to investigate, but, in a rare move, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence signaled support for the scientific consensus that the virus was "not manmade or genetically modified.”
The Washington Post:
Chinese Lab Conducted Extensive Research On Deadly Bat Viruses, But There Is No Evidence Of Accidental Release
For nearly a decade, a team of scientists from Wuhan, China, crisscrossed southern Asia in a high-stakes search for bats and the strange diseases they harbor. They crawled through caves, catching the razor-toothed mammals with nets and scooping up liters of their excrement. They trapped insects and mice living near bat roosts and collected blood from villagers who hunt bats for food or folk medicine. They returned to their state-of-the-art laboratory in central China with tubes and vials containing known killers — pathogens associated with diseases that are deadly in humans — and also a few surprises. On multiple occasions, their takings included exotic coronaviruses previously unknown to science. (Warrick, Nakashima, Harris and Fifield, 4/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
In Rare Move, U.S. Intelligence Agencies Confirm Investigating If Coronavirus Emerged From Lab Accident
The U.S. intelligence community publicly confirmed it is trying to determine whether the coronavirus may have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, the city where the pandemic began. In an unusual public statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, also said that U.S. intelligence agencies concur with the broad scientific consensus that “the Covid-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified.” (Strobel and Volz, 4/30)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Probes University Of Texas Links To Chinese Lab Scrutinized Over Coronavirus
The Education Department has asked the University of Texas System to provide documentation of its dealings with the Chinese laboratory U.S. officials are investigating as a potential source of the coronavirus pandemic. The request for records of gifts or contracts from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its researcher Shi Zhengli, known for her work on bats, is part of a broader department investigation into possible faulty financial disclosures of foreign money by the Texas group of universities. (O'Keeffe, 5/1)
The Washington Post:
Trump Administration Launches Major Effort To Force China To Pay Over Coronavirus
Senior U.S. officials are beginning to explore proposals for punishing or demanding financial compensation from China for its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to four senior administration officials with knowledge of internal planning. The move could splinter already strained relations between the two superpowers at a perilous moment for the global economy. (Stein, Leonnig, Dawsey and Shih, 4/30)
