{"id":16155,"date":"2023-04-19T11:36:05","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T11:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump"},"modified":"2023-04-19T11:42:57","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T11:42:57","slug":"covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. <\/strong><\/span>The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy informed assessment, as a person with as much or more access than anyone to our government\u2019s intelligence during the initial year of the virus outbreak and pandemic onset, has been and continues to be that a lab leak is the only explanation credibly supported by our intelligence, by science and by common sense,\u201d John Ratcliffe told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf our intelligence and evidence supporting a lab leak theory was placed side-by-side with our intelligence and evidence pointing to a naturally occurring \u2018spillover\u2019 theory, the lab leak side of the ledger would be long and overwhelming while the \u2018spillover\u2019 side would be nearly empty,\u201d added Ratcliffe, also a former Republican congressman from Texas.<\/p>\n

Ratcliffe, appointed by then-President Donald Trump, served as director of national intelligence for less than a year (May 2020-January 2021). First nominated for the post in 2019, he initially withdrew his nomination amid concerns he might politicize intelligence and after it emerged he had exaggerated his relevant experience for the post.<\/p>\n

Trump and many Republicans \u2013 who control the House committee \u2013 have long sought to blame China for the virus<\/p>\n

Ratcliff suggested that the evidence on this issue is strong enough to hold research in Wuhan laboratories responsible for the emergence of a global pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Communist Party would be convicted of going to great lengths to cover up the virus\u2019 origins \u2013from destroying medical tests, samples and data, to intimidating and \u2018disappearing\u2019 witnesses and journalists asking questions, to lying and coercing global health authorities, to spreading propaganda that the virus originated in the United States,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But Mark Lowenthal, a former assistant CIA director for analysis and production, said that it is scientifically difficult to make a decision about whether COVID-19 came naturally or from a laboratory.<\/p>\n

Lowenthal said that if China does not cooperate on this issue, the issue will almost certainly never be resolved.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Eritrea<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tuesday. \u201cMy informed assessment, as a person with as much or more access than anyone to our government\u2019s intelligence during the initial year of the virus outbreak and pandemic onset, has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[242,243,171,267,233,304],"class_list":["post-16155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-china","tag-covid-19","tag-eritrea","tag-us"],"yoast_head":"\nCOVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tu ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tu ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T11:36:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T11:42:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"486\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-19T11:36:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-19T11:42:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"CHINA\",\"COVID-19\",\"Eritrea\",\"US\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\",\"name\":\"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump - Eritrea\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-19T11:36:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-19T11:42:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tu ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg\",\"width\":864,\"height\":486,\"caption\":\"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/\",\"name\":\"Eritrea\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump - Eritrea","description":"The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tu ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump","og_description":"The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tu ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump","og_site_name":"Eritrea","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-04-19T11:36:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-19T11:42:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":864,"height":486,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump","datePublished":"2023-04-19T11:36:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-19T11:42:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump"},"wordCount":359,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Eritrea","CHINA","COVID-19","Eritrea","US"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump","name":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump - Eritrea","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-19T11:36:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-19T11:42:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"The virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a lab, said a onetime US director of national intelligence on Tu ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681887985.47.jpg","width":864,"height":486,"caption":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/covid-19-came-from-lab-leak-says-former-intel-official-under-trump#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"COVID-19 came from lab leak, says former intel official under Trump"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/","name":"Eritrea","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}