Dr. Fauci says there’s no evidence coronavirus created in a lab; Trump hints there is

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, disputed the theory that coronavirus was created in a lab in Wuhan, China.

“If you look at the evolution of the virus in bats and what’s out there now, [the scientific evidence] is very, very strongly leaning toward this could not have been artificially or deliberately manipulated. … Everything about the stepwise evolution over time strongly indicates that [this virus] evolved in nature and then jumped species,” Fauci said in an interview with National Geographic.

Fauci also disputed the notion that scientists could have found the virus and brought it into a lab, and then it escaped.

“But that means it was in the wild to begin with,” he said. “That’s why I don’t get what they’re talking about [and] why I don’t spend a lot of time going in on this circular argument.”

When President Donald Trump was asked if he had seen evidence that made him believe the virus originated in the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he said “Yes, I have,” according to CBS News.

Scientists believe the virus originated in China and was transmitted from animals to humans, CBS News reported.

When asked in an interview with ABC News if there was anything that gave him “high confidence” that the virus came from a lab, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “And so, while the intelligence community continues to do its work, they should continue to do that and verify so that we are certain. I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.”

Global Times, owned by the Chinese government, dismissed Pompeo’s claims in an editorial, writing that he had “stunned the world with groundless accusations,” according to CNN.

“Since Pompeo said his claims are supported by ‘enormous evidence,’ then he should present this so-called evidence to the world, and especially to the American public who he continually tries to fool,” the editorial said.

The World Health Organization said it hasn’t gotten evidence from the U.S. to support the theory that the virus originated in the Chinese lab, The Guardian reported.

This story was originally published May 5, 2020 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Dr. Fauci says there’s no evidence coronavirus created in a lab; Trump hints there is."