A top Trump administration national security official recently claimed there was a “growing body of evidence” to support the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a Chinese government-run lab in Wuhan.
Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger made the claim in a recent virtual conference call with British lawmakers regarding China. During the call, Pottinger asserted that officials within China have rejected the theory that the virus originated from a wet market in Wuhan.
“There is a growing body of evidence to say that a laboratory leak or accident is very much a credible possibility,” Pottinger said during the call. “Even establishment figures in Beijing have openly dismissed the wet market story.”
FAST FACTS
- Last month, an Associated Press investigation found that Chinese authorities were “strictly controlling” research into the pandemic’s origins.
- U.S. officials have repeatedly accused China of withholding critical information about the pandemic’s severity
President Trump and other top officials have floated the theory that the virus leaked from a lab. To date, no evidence has emerged to support that claim.
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