Trump Admin Declares China 'Lab Leak' the True Origins of COVID

The Trump administration rolled out a revamped COVID.gov website Friday showing the "true origins" of the coronavirus, while admonishing Democrats and the media for discrediting the theory that the virus leaked from a lab and alternative health treatments, and for imposing strict mandates.

"This administration prioritizes transparency over all else," a senior administration official told Fox News Digital Friday. "The American people deserve to know the truth about the COVID pandemic, and we will always find ways to reach communities with that message."

The website, which previously had focused on promoting the coronavirus vaccine to Americans, now walks readers through evidence supporting the lab leak theory, how former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci promoted the idea that COVID-19 originated naturally, former President Joe Biden pardoning Fauci for "any offenses against" the U.S. he may have committed, and providing details on the origin of the "social distancing" rules and mask mandates.

"'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 promoted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally," the site states, before launching into five bullet points on the origins of the virus.

The new site outlines that a biological characteristic found in the virus was not found in nature, bolstering the lab-leak theory, while noting that Wuhan, China, where the first coronavirus case was found, is also home to China's "foremost SARs research lab" and that "if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn't."

The Trump administration's CIA reported earlier in 2025 that a lab leak was the likely origin of the COVID-19 virus, which had been passed off by media outlets and scientists as a likely conspiracy theory during the early days of the pandemic. The Department of Energy under the Biden administration and former FBI Director Christopher Wray in 2023 also said evidence indicated that the coronarius was the result of a lab leak.

The website also walks readers through the origins of COVID-era rules, such as mask mandates and social distancing.

"The ‘six feet apart’ social distancing recommendation — which shut down schools and small business across the country — was arbitrary and not based on science," it states. "During closed-door testimony, Dr. Fauci testified that guidance 'sort of just appeared."

The website says of mask mandates: "There was no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19. Public health officials flip-flopped on the efficacy of masks without providing Americans scientific data — causing a massive uptick in public distrust."

The website notes that content on the page was sourced directly from the House Oversight Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic.

"Public health officials often mislead the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency," the website states under a portion called "COVID-19 misinformation." "Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people's health decisions."

Many media outlets dismissed Trump in 2020 when he said he had seen evidence that the virus originated in a Wuhan, China, lab, before U.S. intelligence officials such as Wray and the Department of Energy reported that the virus likely originated there.

Many outlets have since published articles showing that the theory is credible, including the New York Times running a March column claiming the scientific community had "badly misled" the public in an effort to suppress the theory, even after the paper's own science writer called the theory "racist."