ABC News’ Jon Karl says “a lot of people have egg on their face” after initially dismissing the suggestion that COVID-19 escaped from a lab in China.
During a segment on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Karl said, “I think a lot of people have egg on their face. This was an idea it was first put forward by Mike Pompeo… Donald Trump.”
“And look, some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them. Because Trump was saying so much else, it was just out of control. And because he was — you know — making a frankly racist appeal, talking about ‘Kung Flu’ and the China virus, his notion put forward… he said flatly it came from that lab was widely dismissed,” he continued.
He added, “But actually… we still don’t know, we absolutely don’t know. But now serious people are saying it needs a serious inquiry.”
Watch the video below:
“Some things may be true even if Donald Trump said them” – ABC’s @JonKarl re origin of COVID-19 pandemic. #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/voC1ISBv4X
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) May 30, 2021
Over the past year, former President Donald Trump floated the idea that the virus escaped from a lab in China — which was widely dismissed at the time.
However, President Joe Biden announced last week that he was asking the U.S. intelligence community to “redouble” its investigation of the origins of the coronavirus.
“I have now asked the Intelligence Community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyze information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me in 90 days,” Biden said, adding that intelligence agencies “do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.”
He continued, “The United States will also keep working with like-minded partners around the world to press China to participate in a full, transparent, evidence-based international investigation and to provide access to all relevant data and evidence.”