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.
Ilhan Omar calls Trump ‘creep’ as president revives ‘fake name,’ marriage allegations
Meghan Markle’s Statement Triggers Internal Police Investigation Amid ‘Disturbing Allegations’ Against Her Father
Watch: Kamala Harris Turns Back the Clock to 2024, Confuses Crowd with Jumbled Motivational Quote That She Has to Repeat
‘Can’t trust Amy Acton’: Viral ad distracts from what’s really at stake in critical race, GOP strategist says
Treasury traces SPLC to debanking of Christians after group dismissed it as conspiracy
Mass shooting at Jordanian church kills at least seven and wounds dozens
Polish Left pushing abortion liberalization through parliament despite looming presidential veto
LeBron James Brushes Off Trump Criticizing His Disrespectful National Anthem Antics
Two Former Top FBI Officials Arrested in Connection with Hunter Biden Investigation
Former FBI officials charged with lying to Congress about Hunter Biden investigations
Chicago’s 12-language ballots make elections ‘harder to monitor,’ Illinois GOP chair warns
Sheriff says evidence ‘leaning one way’ in shooting deaths of disabled toddler and grandparents: report
Ex-FBI officials arrested in Hunter Biden laptop probe as testimony comes under scrutiny
Israel shuts down West Bank after two soliders shot dead by Palestinian gunmen
Ilhan Omar hit with expulsion threat as GOP lawmaker vows to boot her from Congress over DOJ probe
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.”
