According to a classified report given to important lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence committees, the Energy Department came to the "low confidence" conclusion that the Covid-19 pandemic "likely" originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, according to two sources with direct knowledge for NBC News.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed important members on the intelligence committees last month, according to the sources.
The Wall Street Journal broke the news first on Sunday.
Sources warned that because of interagency disputes on Covid's origins, the intelligence community did not view the Energy Department's assessment as being particularly noteworthy.
According to a U.S. official, the confidential report upholds the general opinion that Covid-19 was not caused by a Chinese bioweapon. The Energy Department also labeled the "probable" laboratory-related leak as a "accident" in its evaluation, the individual continued.
The U.S. intelligence community is made up of 18 departments and organizations, including the Energy Department.
The Energy Department released a statement in which a representative for the organization claimed that the organization "continues to support the rigorous, cautious, and objective work of our intelligence experts in probing the origins of COVID-19, as the President instructed."
Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, demanded "large public hearings" on Sunday if the US intelligence agency found clear evidence that Covid-19 spilled from a Chinese lab.
Sullivan responded that Congress must first "have public hearings on this and really delve into it" when asked what the penalties should be if the U.S. reaches that conclusion and later learns it was concealed by the Chinese government on NBC News' "Meet the Press."
“Think about what just happened over the last three years, one of the biggest pandemics in a century. A lot of evidence that it’s coming from the Chinese,” Sullivan said.
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