Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says evidence suggests coronavirus was not man-made or released from lab

by Ellen Mitchell 

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The Pentagon’s top uniformed official on Tuesday maintained that available evidence indicates the virus that has caused a global pandemic was natural and not man-made or released purposely from a Chinese lab.

“The weight of evidence — nothing’s conclusive — the weight of evidence is that it was natural and not man-made,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Mark Milley said of the coronavirus.

“The second issue is, was it accidentally released, did it release naturally into the environment or was it intentional? We don’t have conclusive evidence in any of that, but the weight of evidence is that it was probably not intentional,” he told reporters at the Pentagon.

Milley added that “various agencies, both civilian and U.S. government, are looking at” the issue of where the virus originated.

The Trump administration this month stepped up efforts to blame China for the pandemic, with top officials including President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushing the unverified theory that the virus was created by Chinese researchers or accidentally released by a lab in Wuhan, China, where it was being studied.

Trump, who has come under consistent scrutiny for his own slow response to the virus domestically, has repeatedly accused China of covering up the outbreak and claimed there is significant evidence that the virus emanated from a Wuhan lab — though has not actually provided any evidence.

But Milley since last month has maintained that while the U.S. intelligence community was taking “a hard look” at the theory, it’s inconclusive, and “the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural [origin].”

And Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, has dismissed theories the virus was man-made or released accidentally from a Chinese lab. He said available research indicated the virus evolved naturally.

Milley on Tuesday did push for the Chinese government to “open up and allow inspectors and investigators” to go into Wuhan “so that the world can know the actual original source of this [virus] so that we can apply the lessons learned and prevent outbreaks in the future.”