FBI Evidence Of Chinese Lab Leak Causing COVID-19 Withheld From Biden: Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found evidence that a Chinese lab leak caused COVID-19 but the agency was not allowed to present the findings by other intelligence agencies to President Joe Biden, a report in Wall Street Journal has claimed. Jason Bannan, a doctor of microbiology and former senior scientist at the FBI, claims that the agency had 'moderate confidence' in its assessment -- more than any other domestic intel or security service agency.

"Being the only agency that assessed that a laboratory origin was more likely, and the agency that expressed the highest level of confidence in its analysis of the source of the pandemic, we anticipated the FBI would be asked to attend the briefing," said Mr Bannan.

"I find it surprising that the White House didn't ask."

Notably, Presiden Biden had ordered an inquiry in May 2021 by US intelligence agencies and national laboratories to probe whether the virus had been transferred from animals to humans or if a Chinese lab leak was responsible for the spread of the pandemic.

Also Read | Top US Scientist Fauci Testifies On Origins Of COVID-19 Before House Panel

The National Intelligence Council (NIC), a body of senior intelligence officers organised the review where it was concluded with 'low confidence' that COVID-19 had been transmitted from an animal to a human. The findings were later presented by Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence (DNI), and two of her senior analysts, to President Biden and his top aides in August 2021. CIA and three other agencies agreed with the findings.

"What ended up on the cutting-room floor needs to be re-examined," said Mr Bannan, criticising the lack of transparency in the intelligence community's findings.

Quizzed why the FBI's version of events was not heard, a spokeswoman for the DNI's office said that it "wasn't standard practice to invite representatives from individual agencies to briefings for the president and that divergent views within the intelligence community were fairly represented".

"The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Intelligence Council's work on Covid-19 origins complied with all of the Intelligence Community's analytic standards, including objectivity," the spokeswoman said.

A Republican-controlled committee on COVID-19 also released a report earlier this month and claimed that the virus "likely emerged because of a laboratory' or research-related accident'.