Trump is looking for culprits in the crisis. The US President doubts the majority of scientists who believe that the corona virus is a natural pathogen. He has other clues.
Washington (dpa) - US President Donald Trump claims that the corona pandemic may have originated in a Chinese research laboratory.
When asked by a journalist if he had seen information that would give him "a high level of confidence" in this regard, Trump said in the White House: "Yes, I have."
The US President referred to the Institute of Virology in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first cases became known at the end of last year. The head of the laboratory, Yuan Zhiming, categorically rejected the allegations several days ago. Trump again criticized the leadership in China, accusing him of not having contained the virus in the country.
"They were either unable to do so, or chose not to, and the world has suffered severely," said the President of the United States. He also criticized the World Health Organization (WHO), which he compared to a "PR agency for China". "You shouldn't make excuses for people making terrible mistakes," Trump said. "You should be ashamed." Trump has put US financial contributions to WHO in the corona crisis on hold.
Trump did not want to confirm information from his own executive intelligence coordinator, Richard Grenell, when asked. His office had said that, like most scientists, the secret services assumed that the novel corona virus was a natural and not man-made or manipulated pathogen. Trump said he hadn't seen the announcement. There are many theories and the United States examined the origin. "We'll find out."
In the US, there has recently been repeated speculation that the Sars-CoV-2 virus was accidentally released by a laboratory worker in Wuhan. The pandemic had started in the metropolis. Most scientists assume that the pathogen in China jumped from infected animals to humans and then spread quickly.
Message from the intelligence coordinator, English