President Donald Trump said Friday at the White House that the United States would continue to investigate the origin of the coronavirus.
Recent reporting has questioned whether the virus could have come from a virology lab in Wuhan that was studying bats, rather than a bat sold in a Wuhan wet market.
Trump did not confirm or deny either theory but acknowledged that he was aware of the reports.
“It seems to make sense, they talk about a certain kind of bat, but that bat wasn’t in that area, if you can believe this, that’s what they’re down to now, is bats,” Trump said.
Newsmax reporter Emerald Robinson asked Trump about an NIH grant of $3.7 million to the Wuhan virology lab, during the Obama administration in 2015.
“We’ve instructed that if any grants are going to that area, we are looking at it literally an hour ago, and also early in the morning, we will end that grant very quickly,” Trump said.
Scott Peterson’s defense loses bid to introduce witness testimony in long-running fight to overturn conviction
2 suspects indicted in assault of TPUSA reporter Savanah Hernandez during Minneapolis ICE protest: sources
Powell could remain at the Fed despite looming end of chair term
Trump’s agenda on razor’s edge as GOP divisions block legislative path in House
Journalist Challenges Jim Acosta to Fight Outside His Hotel
America’s Political War Is Costing Trillions: An American Union Could Fix It
Florida redistricting puts pro-Israel Democrats at risk
House Republican from Florida announces he won’t seek re-election this year
WATCH: Hearing erupts after Dem chair tries to sidestep GOP transgender sports bills: ‘They’re petrified’
SAVE Act quietly punted to Senate graveyard as some supporters concede defeat
Florida man allegedly shot woman in neck, dragged her back inside before hiding in backyard pool
California governor’s debate turns chaotic as candidates chase breakout moment
Illegal immigrant accused of killing newlywed couple in Oregon crash arrested by ICE after jail release
Pentagon urges Congress to codify ‘Department of War’ name change it estimates will cost $52 million
Biden Admin Used a ‘Code Word’ to Conceal Loans to Planned Parenthood, Senator Alleges
He added, “Who was president then, I wonder?”
One reporter asked Dr. Fauci if the virus “was somehow manmade” in a lab. Fauci cited a study that said that the coronavirus sequences were “totally consistent” with the traits of a virus mutating and transferring from an animal to human.
The president also challenged China’s death toll, noting that news reports were uncritically saying that the United States had the most coronavirus deaths in the world.
“We don’t have the most in the world deaths, the most in the world has to be China, it’s a massive country, it’s gone through a tremendous problem with this,” Trump said. “They must have the most.”
Trump said that China’s announcement raising the death toll by 50 percent was only for the city of Wuhan, not the entire country.
“It is what it is,” Trump said. “What a sad state of affairs.”
