Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited ‘a significant amount of evidence’ that the coronavirus originated in a Wuhan, China, lab but said he isn’t allowed to describe the evidence.
Photo: andrew harnik/press poolThe Trump administration stepped up assertions that the coronavirus originated at a laboratory in Wuhan, adding fuel to a point of tension between the U.S. and China.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said he has seen “enormous evidence” that the virus infecting much of the world originated in a laboratory in the Chinese city.
“I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan,” Mr. Pompeo said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” program. Mr. Pompeo declined to describe that evidence, saying “I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
During a Fox News appearance Sunday night, President Trump suggested China engaged in a coverup because it was embarrassed. “I think they made a horrible mistake and they didn’t want to admit it,” he said.
“We’re going to be giving a very strong report as to exactly what we think happened,” Mr. Trump said of questions about a Wuhan lab. “I think it will be very conclusive.” Mr. Trump previously said he has seen intelligence reports about China and the virus but declined to elaborate.
Intelligence officials last week said they continued to examine the origins of the virus and determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of a lab accident.
China has repeatedly denied any links between the outbreak and any lab, and no evidence has publicly emerged to support the lab theory.
Mr. Pompeo’s comments Sunday—including that he had seen evidence that gave him a high degree of confidence that the virus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology—went further than comments he made last week.
On April 30, the same day the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its statement on its inquiry, Mr. Pompeo told WHO radio in Des Moines, Iowa, that U.S. officials didn’t yet know precisely where the coronavirus first started infecting people. “We don’t know if it came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We don’t know if it emanated from the wet market or yet some other place. We don’t know those answers,” Mr. Pompeo said.
The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Mr. Pompeo had since been provided new information.
Senior U.S. officials have previously acknowledged efforts to look into whether the virus may have escaped from the institute, where scientists study bat coronaviruses as part of a global effort to understand viruses that could pose danger to humans.
President Trump, when asked Thursday about whether he has seen such intelligence linking the institute to the origin of the virus, said, “Yes, I have.” Asked to elaborate, he said, “I can’t tell you that, I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
One theory among some epidemiologists and experts is that the novel coronavirus originated in a bat before infecting humans, perhaps through transmission at a market in Wuhan that sold wild animals, several miles from the lab.
China’s role in the spread of the virus has figured prominently into debates within the U.S., where over 1 million people have been infected and more than 61,000 have died. Experts in the U.S. and elsewhere have faulted China for not sharing information about the outbreak more quickly, and Mr. Trump and his allies have often attacked Beijing when questioned about the administration’s own coronavirus response.
Write to Aruna Viswanatha at Aruna.Viswanatha@wsj.com and Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com
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