Fmr FDA Commissioner Gottlieb: Wuhan Lab Leak ‘Was Always a Plausible Theory’

Former FDA commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb on Friday suggested that the theory of coronavirus leaking out of the Wuhan lab “was always a plausible theory.”

Gottlieb said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he didn’t think of coronavirus being “engineered” or used as a “bioweapon” but rather a leak as a result of “sloppy practices.”

“Look, I think we should always be keeping an open mind about these kinds of questions,” Gottlieb advised when asked about questions of the virus’ origins.” And I know the people who, quote, ‘changed their mind in those reports,’ they are people of integrity, and I believe they change their mind based on the reading of the science, but the bottom line we should have had a more open mind about this all the way through. And people who raised questions about whether or not this could have come out of a lab early on were either dismissed or criticized, and it was always a plausible theory that this could have come out of a lab, not that this was something engineered, deliberately manipulated and released from a lab, and it certainly wasn’t a bioweapon, but it could have been something that was brought into a lab, and through sloppy practices, the lab became the point of departure for this epidemic.”

“So, we should have had a more open mind about that question all along,” he added. “I think there’s more evidence that suggested this could have come out of a lab that’s come along as time has progressed. We certainly haven’t gotten more evidence this came out of nature.”

Follow Trent Baker on Twitter @MagnifiTrent