The White House on Wednesday announced that President Biden has asked U.S. intelligence agencies to “redouble their efforts” in a search for the origins of COVID-19. In March, Biden tasked intelligence officials with preparing a report on the subject, with further insights into two possibilities: that it emerged from human contact with an infected animal, or that it came from a lab accident, a theory pushed incessantly by former President Donald Trump but previously dismissed by many experts. Glenn Kessler, the reporter behind the Washington Post’s “Fact Checker” column, wrote recently, “The Trump administration also sought to highlight the lab scenario but generally could only point to vague intelligence. The Trump administration’s messaging was often accompanied by anti-Chinese rhetoric that made it easier for skeptics to ignore its claims.”

But, Biden stated, “As of today, the U.S. Intelligence Community has ‘coalesced around two likely scenarios’ but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question,” read a statement attributed to Biden. “Here is their current position: ‘while two elements in the IC leans toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter—each with low or moderate confidence—the majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other.’” He said he is now asking intelligence officials “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.” However, Biden noted, “The failure to get our inspectors on the ground in those early months will always hamper any investigation into the origin of COVID-19.”