President Donald Trump on Thursday confirmed he has seen evidence that gives him a high degree of confidence that the coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
U.S. Intelligence officials on Thursday confirmed they were exploring the possibility that the novel disease leaked from a Wuhan lab, confirming Newsweek‘s reporting on the subject.
During Trump’s remarks on protecting America’s seniors at the White house today, a reporter asked the president whether he has seen anything that gives him “a high degree of confidence” that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was where COVID-19 had originated from.
“Yes. Yes, I have,” Trump responded. “And I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves, because they’re like the public relations agency for China.”
“They shouldn’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes, especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die,” the president continued. “I think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves.”
When asked how confident he feels that it came from a Wuhan Lab, Trump declined to answer. “I’m not allowed to tell you that,” he said.
Earlier during the event, Trump was asked whether Chinese President Xi Jinping should be held responsible for the coronavirus outbreak. “I don’t want to say that, but certainly it could have been stopped,” the president said. “I wish they stopped it. The whole world wishes they stopped it.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House for further comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
