The majority of the United States' 17 intelligence agencies are in agreement. They believe that the coronavirus started in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Even though the intelligence community believes this virus started in a lab, they believe its leak was unintentional and the result of an accident, a senior intelligence official told the Daily Caller.
Although all the agencies are not on board, a leaked intelligence report from the "Five Eyes" intelligence alliance – made up of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand – shows that 70 to 75 percent of the U.S.' agencies believe the virus started in a Wuhan lab.
What the senior intelligence official told the Daily Caller confirms what Fox News' Chief White House Correspondent, John Roberts, reported on Saturday:
A Senior Intelligence Source tells me there is agreement among most of the 17 Intelligence agencies that COVID-19 originated in the Wuhan lab. The source stressed that the release is believed to be a MISTAKE, and was not intentional.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 2, 2020
Sources say not all 17 intelligence agencies agree that the lab was the source of the virus because there is not yet a definitive “smoking gun”. But confidence is high among 70-75% of the agencies.
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) May 2, 2020
The confirmation comes after President Donald Trump said last week that the intelligence agencies are in agreement on the origins of the virus.
.@realDonaldTrump says he has seen intelligence that gives him a high degree of confidence that the coronavirus originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology - though he would not go into detail “I can’t say”
— John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) April 30, 2020
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Thursday said the intelligence community has come to a "wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not manmade or genetically modified" but "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."
The lab's director, Yuan Zhiming, has said there is no way the Wuhan coronavirus started in his laboratory and called such claims a "conspiracy theory."
"Why are there rumors? Because the Institute of Virology and the P4 laboratory are in Wuhan, people can't help but make associations, which I think is understandable. But it's bad when some are deliberately trying to mislead people," Zhiming said last month.
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