Biden Orders Intelligence Agencies to Report on COVID-19 Origins Within 90 Days

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he had directed intelligence officials to “redouble” their efforts to come closer to a definitive conclusion on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and to “report back to me in 90 days.” The announcement came days after the Wall Street Journal reported on an intelligence report stating that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology had symptoms consistent with COVID-19 in November 2019, reigniting speculation around the theory that the virus leaked from a Chinese lab. Biden explained that the intelligence community was considering the theory as one of “two likely scenarios” with “low or moderate confidence,” but that it had not reached a definitive conclusion. “The majority of [intelligence community] elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other,” Biden said.

Coverage tended to discuss similar quotes and facts about the story regardless of bias rating. Some right-rated outlets featured the story with opinion content criticizing media and Democratic political figures for disregarding the Wuhan lab theory.