Trump Officials Are Said to Press Spies to Link Virus and Wuhan Labs

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — Senior Trump administration officials have pushed American spy agencies to hunt for evidence to support an unsubstantiated theory that a government laboratory in Wuhan, China, was the origin of the coronavirus outbreak, according to current and former American officials. The effort comes as President Trump escalates a public campaign to blame China for the pandemic.

Some intelligence analysts are concerned that the pressure from administration officials will distort assessments about the virus and that they could be used as a political weapon in an intensifying battle with China over a disease that has infected more than three million people across the globe.

Most intelligence agencies remain skeptical that conclusive evidence of a link to a lab can be found, and scientists who have studied the genetics of the coronavirus say that the overwhelming probability is that it leapt from animal to human in a nonlaboratory setting, as was the case with H.I.V., Ebola and SARS.

Mr. Trump’s aides and Republicans in Congress have sought to blame China for the pandemic in part to deflect criticism of the administration’s mismanagement of the crisis in the United States, which now has more coronavirus cases than any country. More than one million Americans have been infected, and more than 60,000 have died.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-officials-are-said-to-press-spies-to-link-virus-and-wuhan-labs/ar-BB13ppUW?li=BBnb7Kz

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This is just like Trump with the Ukraine or Dubya seeking justification to attack Iraq. Perhaps Trump will put Giuliani on the case.

[bucolic_frolic]

1. Trump is a pro at using foreign sources as straw men to investigate, blame, smear

Hopefully Democrats will be strong enough to make the case

[onetexan]

7. this is all a ploy for his reelection bid of course - make the Chinese the bad guys to appease

his rabid base. The SoB will do anything to stay in power so he won't get prosecuted if he isn't.

[turbinetree]

2. Kushner, Trump and the whole cabal think that this side show will work............

not happening............you knew as far back as last November...........even that pimple on your ass Giuliana can't get you all of this one..............

[pecosbob]

3. ODNI has already declared it is not man-made or genetically-engineered

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142483290

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-us-intelligence-community-china-odni/

U.S. intelligence agencies have been exploring, but have not uncovered concrete evidence to substantiate, a theory that the coronavirus escaped a Chinese lab. The possibility that the virus was bioengineered, rather than naturally derived, has been ruled out by government officials and scientists alike, a position reiterated by ODNI on Thursday.

If it did come out of a lab, it was accidental.

[Roy Rolling]

4. That Makes it Worse

Did Trump miss a biological warfare virus leak? Or ignore it? Either way, a president losing 60,000 Americans because he was weak on biological defense is a horrible outcome.

And the moron thinks he’s off the hook if we find out he missed a “biological attack against the United States from China” that has resulted in 61,000 deaths so far. After all, what’s a president to do if he is briefed there is a biological leak somewhere? Sit on it?

You can’t make this stuff up.

[TomCADem]

5. Nah. The spin will be that China was not trying to attack...

...but they were engaged in research for a bio weapon that got out of hand. Thus, Trump should not be blamed for an attack, because there was no attack. Rather, it was just a frankenstein bioweapon that got out of hand. Perhaps Trump will even say that our allies Germany, South Korea and Taiwan were in cahootz with China, which will explain why they have done a much better job in responding to the pandemic.

[Paladin]

6. Typical misuse of intelligence resources.

The origin of the virus is less important by the day. What really needs exposure is trump's criminal waste of time and his ignoring all manner of warnings, leaving the U.S. unprepared and contributing to tens of thousands of preventable deaths. People have been put before firing squads for far less.

[sop]

8. Yeah, whatever...Still doesn't excuse Trump's murderously incompetent response to the virus.