Former Intel Officer Claims U.S. Had Evidence of China’s COVID Cover-Up

During the 2020 presidential election cycle in America, COVID became politicized, leading to global doubt that the intelligence was seen as a “radioactive American political issue,” as per a report.

Former Trump administration Secretary of State Mike Pompeo allegedly shared evidence of a Chinese cover-up of the COVID-19 pandemic with the U.K. before former President Donald Trump’s departure from office in January 2021. However, American politicization caused skepticism among recipients of the Five Eyes’ intelligence sharing, as reported by The Telegraph on Sunday.

“We saw several pieces of information that we found to be truly astonishing,” shared a former intelligence official who worked on the report shared by Pompeo with the U.K. to The Telegraph. “They strongly indicated a high likelihood that this was indeed a lab leak.”

The Five Eyes intelligence-sharing nations met to discuss evidence suggesting that China concealed coronavirus research, including gain of function research, and military activities at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

The U.K.’s then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab participated in the call with Pompeo, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, as disclosed by The Telegraph.

Two Trump officials claimed that Raab and the U.K. government disregarded the intelligence from the outgoing Trump administration and instead supported government scientists who opposed the lab leak evidence.

The State Department highlighted “consistent stonewalling” by China, accusing local officials of “gross corruption and ineptitude,” among other pieces of intelligence.

Additional details included:

• The earliest signs that Chinese military personnel worked at the WIV before the pandemic.
• Lab staff falling ill before the initial COVID-19 cases emerged nearby.
• Chinese scientists conducting gain of function research.

The dismissal of the U.S. intelligence report shared by Pompeo led former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to assert publicly in June 2021 that “the guidance we have received suggests that this particular disease of zoonotic origin did not come from a lab,” according to The Telegraph.

“Once the issue became deeply political, the global pursuance of it essentially faltered because no one else wanted to engage with it,” stated a Trump official to The Telegraph. “I believe [Five Eyes] were somewhat annoyed by how the matter had been handled in U.S. politics.”

Sources revealed that Sir Jeremy Farrar, a key figure in the U.K. Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, was among those who dismissed the lab leak intelligence report.

After the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the U.K. now shares the belief that COVID-19 originated in the WIV, as per The Telegraph.

An “open line” was utilized during the January 2021 call to allow Chinese intelligence to intercept knowledge of the Five Eyes intelligence community’s evidence regarding a Chinese cover-up, as shared by the sources with The Telegraph.

“We did that intentionally,” affirmed a State Department source. “We aimed to exert pressure on the wrongdoers.”