President Trump was in rare form at Thursday’s White House press briefing. The President insists that he has personally seen evidence which convinces him the novel coronavirus should have a “made in China” sticker. He’s just “not allowed to tell you” the details. President Trump didn’t stop there though. “I think that the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they’re like the public relations agency for China.”
Was the virus man-made or genetically modified?
The president is contradicting earlier reports that the U.S. intelligence community has doubts that the virus was designed in a lab. Nobody has any questions that the outbreak started in Wuhan. Either way, The World Health Organization is not very popular with President Trump these days.
We stopped our huge voluntary donations to the global body after they appeared to be helping China to actually cover up the politically damaging aspects of the outbreak. The Chinese Communist Party has also been accused of controversially silencing “doctors who tried to raise alarm about the novel coronavirus early on.” They needed help from the WHO to do it.
When President Trump was questioned about the Intelligence community assessment, he wondered who wrote it. The author’s motives could make a huge difference in the report’s credibility. Since then, the spy community backed down from their previous assessment to admit the question hasn’t been answered. An investigation is still ongoing into the origin of the mysterious strain.
According to the Director of National Intelligence, “The IC [intelligence community] will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan.”
Why can’t inspectors see the factory for designer genes?
The theory that the designer genes for COVID-19 came from a lab has been popular since the beginning of the crisis, especially since it was first identified in Wuhan. Despite all the help from WHO, the international teams of doctors aren’t allowed inside the Wuhan virus lab to look around for helpful clues to containment and treatment questions.
President Trump acknowledges that what happened in China was likely a “mistake,” rather than an intentional act, but either way, Beijing has not been very open and above-board about what happened and how powerful the new variant is. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo backs him up. “We need partners we can rely on that when they tell us something, it is accurate and that we don’t think they’re hiding anything.” Unlike our partners at the WHO.
China still won’t let international inspectors visit the Level 4 super lab where the virus likely originated, the Wuhan Institute of Virology. “The world hasn’t gained access to the WIV, the virology institute there. We don’t know precisely where this virus originated from,” Pompeo explains.
The White House was already on the record earlier in the week stating that “understanding the origins of the virus is important to help the world respond to this pandemic but also to inform rapid-response efforts to future infectious disease outbreaks.” Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that Trump has directed a full investigation. “I fully expect that the President will consider a range of options to ensure that those who were not forthcoming with the American people, be that in China or in the World Health Organization, are held to account.”
