Rarely at a loss for words or unwilling to share his views, President Donald Trump conspicuously refused to comment about reports U.S. intelligence has a high level of confidence the coronavirus pandemic emanated from a Wuhan, China, virology lab.
"I don't want to say that, John, but I will tell you more and more we are hearing the story, and we'll see," Trump told Fox News' John Roberts during the question and answer session of the White House coronavirus task force daily briefing Wednesday. "When you say multiple sources, now, there's a case where you can use the word sources.
"We are doing a very thorough examination of this horrible situation that happened."
Sources have told Fox News intelligence suggests a Wuhan laboratory with lax safety protocols infected an intern with COVID-19, believed to be "patient zero," and she infected her boyfriend and visited the wet market that has been widely reported to have been the location of the first community spread in China.
Roberts pressed Trump on whether he had that information before past conversations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I don't want to discuss what I talk to him about the laboratory," Trump responded. "I just don't want to discuss it. It's inappropriate right now."
Officials throughout the Trump administration have been pressing China about being more transparent about the global coronavirus pandemic. This has evolved from a prior administration position shared this winter that China had been very helpful to the U.S. on the spread of COVID-19 and how to mitigate the spread and treat the disease.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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