CIA Takes Stance on COVID, Says Lab Leak ‘More Likely’ Than Natural Origin

The CIA has changed its official position on the origins of COVID-19, claiming the virus was “more likely” to have originated in a lab than occurred naturally.

The Details: President Trump’s newly-approved CIA Director John Ratcliffe ordered the declassification and release of a report completed by the CIA during President Joe Biden’s administration and is not the result of new findings. The CIA’s report expresses “low confidence” in the findings.

For Context: Several government agencies like the FBI and Department of Energy have previously said they believe COVID’s most likely origin was a lab. The CIA had not taken an official stance until Ratcliffe declassified this report. In an interview with Breitbart (Right bias), published on January 24, Ratcliffe said one of his “day one” priorities was to look into the CIA’s findings on the matter and get the agency “off the sidelines.” A day after the CIA published its stance, China said it was “extremely unlikely” the virus came from a lab.

How The Media Covered It: ZeroHedge (Lean Right) opened its coverage by highlighting that in January 2020 it was banned from Twitter, Facebook, and Google for suggesting COVID could have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Associated Press (Left) emphasized the CIA’s “low confidence” in its headline and body. Read more about the evolution of the “lab leak theory” and what media and government officials have said over the years with AllSides’ Misinformation Watch.