Trump ‘confident virus originated in a Chinese lab’
DONALD Trump contradicted his own spies, claiming he has a “high degree of confidence” the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory.
Despite a rare on-the-record statement from his intelligence chiefs, the President said he had seen evidence backing up allegations Covid-19 began at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
When asked if he had “a high degree of confidence” in the accusation, Mr Trump said: “Yes I have.Yes I have.”
Later, when asked why he was confident in his belief, Mr Trump said: “I can’t tell you that. I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
Excuses
The comments were at odds with the office of his director of national intelligence, which hours earlier stated no such assessment had been made.
In a statement, it said it could not yet assess whether the outbreak “was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan” or began “through contact with infected animals”.
It came despite Trump administration officials spending weeks repeatedly floating the theory the virus originated inside a Chinese lab near a wet market in Wuhan.
The President also attacked the World Health Organisation, which he claimed was too pro-China. He said: “They shouldn’t be making excuses when people make horrible mistakes, especially mistakes that are causing hundreds of thousands of people around the world to die.”
Mr Trump has warned, he could impose tariffs of $1trillion in retribution for the pandemic.
He has hinted the US government is looking at ways to punish Beijing for triggering the outbreak by imposing sanctions, but stopped short.
When asked if he would consider refusing to repay America’s debts to China, President Trump said withholding debt payments would be a “rough game”.
He said: “You start playing those games, and that’s tough.
“We want to protect the sanctity of the dollar, the importance of the dollar. It’s the greatest currency in the history of the world.”