FBI Director Christopher Wray has confirmed that the bureau assessed the COVID-19 pandemic likely resulted from a lab incident in Wuhan, China.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origin of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News host Bret Baier in an interview late Tuesday.
“Let’s step back for a second. You know, the FBI has folks—agents, professionals, analysts, virologists, microbiologist, etc.—who focus specifically on the dangers of biological threats, which include things like novel viruses like COVID and the concerns that they’re in the wrong hands—some bad guys, a hostile nation state, a terrorist, a criminal—the threats that those could pose,” he said. “Here you’re talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab that killed millions of Americans.”
“I should add that the work related to this continues and there are not a whole lot [of] details that are unclassified.”
Wray also said he believes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been interfering with efforts by the United States and other foreign nations to investigate the origins of COVID-19.
“The Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here—the work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody.”
The FBI’s Twitter account announced late Tuesday that Wray “confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China.”
#FBI Director Wray confirmed that the Bureau has assessed that the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan, China. pic.twitter.com/LcBVNU7vmO
— FBI (@FBI) March 1, 2023
Wray’s comments come just days after the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a classified report to the White House and key members of Congress that concluded the virus mostly likely came from a lab leak, reported the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Feb. 26, citing unnamed sources. The new conclusion was reportedly reached due to new intelligence, according to the outlet.
