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(CNN) – Senior Trump administration officials have pressured US intelligence agencies to investigate the origin of the new coronavirus and “look for evidence” that links the virus to a Chinese laboratory, the newspaper reported Thursday. The New York Times.
The New York Times, which noted that “intelligence agencies remain skeptical that conclusive evidence of a link to a laboratory could be found,” reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger and Anthony Ruggiero, an official from the National Security Council are among those who have lobbied for agencies to find a connection.
According to the newspaper, Pompeo has “taken the initiative” in requesting more information about the possible link, while Pottinger “has pressured intelligence agencies since January to collect information that can support any theory of origin linked to a laboratory.” For his part, Ruggiero “expressed frustration” during a call that same month when the CIA was unable to endorse any theory about the origin of the virus, the publication added.
The newspaper noted that “some intelligence analysts are concerned that pressure from government officials is distorting assessments of the virus and that it may be used as a political weapon” against China, a country that President Donald Trump has sought to to blame for the covid-19 which has so far claimed the lives of more than 230,000 people worldwide.
The agency’s acting director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell, said in a statement Thursday that the intelligence community “will continue to rigorously examine the information and intelligence that emerges to determine if the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident in a laboratory in Wuhan. ”
The pronouncement also held that the intelligence community “coincides with the broad scientific consensus that the covid-19 virus was neither man-made nor genetically modified.”
CNN reported earlier this month that an intelligence official familiar with the government’s analysis revealed that US intelligence personnel He is investigating a theory that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China, and was accidentally released.
That theory has been fueled by supporters of the president, including some Republicans in Congress, who are eager to deflect criticism of the government’s handling of the pandemic.
Other sources told CNN that US intelligence He has not been able to corroborate the theory, but he is trying to discern if someone was infected in the laboratory by an accident or by improper handling of the materials and could have infected others.
But the theory is one of many in which researchers investigate, while trying to determine the origin of the coronavirus. The United States does not believe the virus is associated with biological weapons research, and sources indicated that there is currently no indication that the coronavirus was man-made.
The New York Times He said in his report that intelligence community officials “have repeatedly pointed out to the White House that determining the origins of the outbreak is fundamentally a scientific issue that cannot be easily resolved through espionage.”
Josh Campbell, Kylie Atwood, and Evan Perez, all from CNN, contributed to this report.
