White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt expressed strong criticism on Friday towards mainstream media for mocking President Donald Trump when he proposed that COVID-19 may have originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Her remarks followed the confirmation from former CIA Director John Ratcliffe that intelligence now supports the lab leak theory, which had previously been dismissed as a conspiracy theory but is now recognized as credible.
In contrast, the Biden administration has remained largely reticent regarding these revelations. Leavitt highlighted their lack of transparency with the American public, stating, “Kudos to John Ratcliffe for bringing this truth to light.” She emphasized that the Biden administration had ample opportunity to inform the American people about this matter but chose not to do so.
Speaking to a gathering of reporters, Leavitt recalled that when Trump suggested in 2020 that COVID-19 “very well may have” originated from a lab in Wuhan, the media quickly dismissed his assertion as unfounded. “Many individuals in this very room ridiculed him, claiming he was promoting conspiracy theories. He was not,” Leavitt asserted. “We now recognize this as a verifiable truth. It took years for this information to surface, but the president was correct in this instance once again.”
She concluded with a definitive statement: “The President was right.” Leavitt’s comments come in light of the CIA’s recent assessment indicating that COVID-19 is “more likely” to have originated in a laboratory rather than through natural means. Ratcliffe, who served as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence, has consistently criticized both the Biden administration and mainstream media for downplaying this information.
“I am aware from discussions with the president regarding his priorities and his focus on foreign threats to America’s national security, particularly concerning China,” Ratcliffe stated in an interview with Breitbart this week. “One of the key issues I have frequently addressed is…”
He elaborated, “This is a priority for me from the very beginning. I have publicly stated, as you are aware, that I believe our intelligence, scientific understanding, and common sense strongly indicate that the origins of COVID-19 stem from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. However, the CIA has not reached that conclusion, at least not in a public manner. Therefore, I will concentrate on this matter, examine the intelligence, and ensure that the public understands that the agency will no longer remain passive.”
For an extended period, Democrats and their media supporters have dismissed the lab leak theory as an unfounded conspiracy propagated by the right, promoting the idea that COVID-19 emerged naturally, despite increasing evidence and whistleblower accounts to the contrary. Additionally, major technology companies took measures to censor content that proposed the lab leak theory, labeling it as “misinformation.”
