The Trump administration launched a webpage Friday, which asserts that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak in China and accuses public health officials of deliberately suppressing this theory for political reasons.

“Public health officials often mislead the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency,” the White House webpage stated. “Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people’s health decisions.”

The statement directly criticized Dr. Anthony Fauci, claiming he pushed “the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally.”

CIA Assessment and Pompeo’s Remarks

This declaration follows a recently declassified CIA assessment that concluded with “low confidence” that the pandemic likely originated from research activities at a Wuhan laboratory. CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in last week, described the report’s release as a transparency measure.

The White House webpage presents bullet-pointed arguments and citations targeting not only Fauci but also former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the NIH, EcoHealth Alliance, and the World Health Organization. It alleges that U.S. taxpayer money funded high-risk gain-of-function research in Wuhan.

“We weren’t cherry-picking the evidence. We were reading all of the intelligence,” former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Politico. “And the world now knows that our judgments were supported by an enormous amount of evidence that continues to grow.”

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China Rejects Claims, Investigation Underway

China has firmly rejected these conclusions. “We firmly oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the source of the virus,” said Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for China’s U.S. embassy, according to the Associated Press.

The timing is notable as Fauci received a sweeping preemptive pardon from former President Biden before leaving office. The pardon covers Fauci’s activities from 2014 onward.

The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into EcoHealth Alliance, with congressional hearings and further declassifications expected as the debate intensifies.

Read more at Newsweek.