Schiff Accuses Trump of 'Lying' About Coronavirus Originating From Wuhan lab
House Intelligence Committee Chairman says there is 'no evidence'
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff accused the Trump administration of playing a "dangerous" game regarding recent claims that the coronavirus originated from a Wuhan lab.
Appearing on MSNBC on Monday, the Democrat said President Trump's and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's assertions of there being "evidence" that outbreak began in a lab in Wuhan, China, had no intelligence to back it up.
"If there is anything to have high confidence about in that regard or enormous evidence, they have yet to share it with Congress," Schiff said.
"And we are told that we are currently informed on the latest intelligence," Schiff told host Lawrence O'Donnell.
"I don't know where they are getting this apart from either expressing their desire, or they're withholding information from Congress," he added.
"But I don't see what would be gained by doing so," he added.
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But according to a senior intelligence official, a large portion of the U.S. Intelligence Community's 17 spy agencies believe the coronavirus escaped from a lab.
Schiff floated the notion that Trump is trying to "deflect attention" from his administration's early response to the virus.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the government had "enormous evidence" that COVID-19 originated in a lab in Wuhan, China.
"There's enormous evidence that that's where this began," Pompeo said on ABC's This Week.
"We've said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China," he continued.
"We took a lot of grief for that from the outset, but I think the whole world can see now."
WATCH:
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Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed Schiff's claims saying it was "not likely" the coronavirus originated from a lab.
According to a National Geographic interview, Fauci said:
“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,” he added.
But a bombshell report from last month revealed U.S. officials uncovered evidence the coronavirus did originate from Wuhan lab, while China's ruling Communist Party blamed wet markets for covering it up.
But as investigation ramp up into China's alleged cover-up of the coronavirus origins, Democrats like Nany Pelosi are working to block it.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) claimed Pelosi is also stopping a probe into whether taxpayer money was sent to the Wuhan lab suspected of leaking the virus.
