Blinken casts doubt on methodology of coronavirus lab-leak report

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cast doubt on Tuesday on the methodology of a report on the origins of COVID-19 cited by the Wall Street Journal that concluded the hypothesis of a virus leak from a Chinese lab was plausible.

"I saw the report. I think it's on a number of levels, incorrect," Blinken told a Senate committee hearing on the State Department's budget request when asked about the Journal article. The Journal on Monday cited people familiar with a classified report by a U.S. government national laboratory as saying it concluded that the hypothesis of a virus leak from a Chinese lab in Wuhan was plausible and deserved further investigation.