Announcement About COVID-19 Origins

Jeff Charles / Townhall Tipsheet 

The White House on Friday updated its website to declare that COVID-19 resulted from a lab leak in China, conf"irming a theory many had about the origins of the coronavirus.

 The website includes a guide detailing how the pandemic truly began, countering the earlier narrative that it emerged from an outdoor market and from people eating bats.

The White House claims, “’The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2’ publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally.”

The page contains various facts about how the coronavirus came to be. “The virus possess a biological characteristic that is not found in nature,” the White House states. “Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events.” Read more here.

US will abandon Ukraine peace efforts if no progress made soon, Rubio says

Reuters / NEW YORK POST

 

President Donald Trump will walk away from trying to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace deal within days unless there are clear signs that a deal can be done, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.

“We’re not going to continue with this endeavour for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks,” Rubio said in Paris after meeting European and Ukrainian leaders.

“The president feels very strongly about that. He has dedicated a lot of time and energy to this … this is important, but there are a lot of other really important things going on that deserves just as much, if not more attention.”

Rubio’s warning came amid signs of some progress in US talks with Ukraine.

Trump said on Thursday he expected to sign a deal with Kyiv next week that would give the US access to Ukraine’s minerals.