Epidemic prevention employees in protective suits line as much as take a swab as coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreaks proceed in Beijing, China November 28, 2022.
Thomas Peter | Reuters
WASHINGTON — The Department of Energy stated with “little confidence” that Covid-19 pandemic “probably” comes from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, in line with a classified report provided to key lawmakers within the House and Senate intelligence committees, two sources with direct knowledge told NBC News.
Key lawmakers in intelligence committees were briefed last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about a classified report, sources say.
The first information was provided by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Nevertheless, one source warned NBC News that the DOE’s conclusion was not seen as extremely significant among the many intelligence community on account of disagreements between agencies over the origins of Covid.
A Department of Energy spokesman told NBC News that the agency “continues to support the thorough, careful, and objective work of our intelligence specialists in investigating the origins of COVID-19 as directed by the president.”
Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska on Sunday called for “extensive public hearings” if the U.S. intelligence community finally determines that Covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab.
Asked on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” what the implications ought to be if the US makes such a decision after which discovers it has been covered up by the Chinese government, Sullivan said lawmakers must first “hold public hearings on this matter and really delve into it.”
“Take into consideration what happened within the last three years, one of the largest pandemics in a century. Lots of evidence that it got here from the Chinese,” Sullivan said.
China has denied that Covid was brought on by a lab leak previously calling the speculation a “conspiracy”.
Republicans of the House of Representatives launched their very own investigation down origin pandemic.
ODNI replied to a Letter of February 13 from representatives James Comer, chairman of the Oversight Committee, and Brad Wenstrup, chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, requesting “information in regards to the origins of COVID-19,” a spokesman for the Oversight Committee told NBC News Sunday. The committee is “reviewing the classified information provided,” the spokesman said.
The White House referred NBC News to the ODNI for comment.
When asked in regards to the classified report on Sunday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said there was “no definitive answer” from the intelligence community on the origins of Covid.
“There are different views within the intelligence community. Some elements of the intelligence community got here to conclusions on one side, others on the opposite. Many of them said there simply wasn’t enough information to ensure,” Jake Sullivan continued on CNN’s State of the Union.
“If we get any further information or information, we’ll share it with Congress and we’ll share it with the American people,” Jake Sullivan added. “But in the intervening time, the intelligence community doesn’t have a definitive answer to that query.”