House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said the Trump administration appears to be playing a “dangerous” game tracking down the origins of the coronavirus.
The California Democrat told MSNBC on Monday that he has not seen any intelligence to back up President Trump’s and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s assertions of there being a great deal of evidence showing the outbreak began in a lab in Wuhan, China.
“If there is anything to have high confidence about in that regard or enormous evidence, they have yet to share it with Congress. And we are told that we are currently informed on the latest intelligence,” Schiff told host Lawrence O’Donnell.
“I don’t know where they are getting this apart from either expressing their desire, or they’re withholding information from Congress. But I don’t see what would be gained by doing so,” he added.
A senior intelligence official told the Washington Examiner that a majority of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s 17 spy agencies believe COVID-19 originated through an accidental escape from the lab. China has denied the possibility of a Wuhan lab leak, and many believe the likeliest theory is that the outbreak began in a Wuhan wet market.
Schiff speculated that the Trump administration is trying to “deflect attention” from its early stumbles in responding to the pandemic, which has been tied to tens of thousands of deaths in the United States. He also noted that China does bear “a lot” of blame in terms of poor transparency.
In conclusion, Schiff stressed, “there’s a danger” putting out “theories that cannot be substantiated or deliberately provoking a fight in the middle of the pandemic.”
