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Comment by John Ratcliffe

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CIA director, former DNI
The lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense.
AI Verified (Jun 23, 2023)
Source:
John Ratcliffe, quoted by CBS News/AP in "CIA now says COVID most likely originated from a lab leak but has 'low confidence' in its assessment," updated January 27, 2025.
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Policy proposals and claims
COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
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AI Verified The quote is directly about the COVID-19 origins question in the cited source, where Ratcliffe is responding to competing origin hypotheses and says the lab-leak theory is the only supported theory. That makes the quote on-topic for the complete statement and gives a clear, determinable stance signal. ([abc17news.com](https://abc17news.com/news/ap-national-news/2023/06/23/us-intelligence-report-on-covid-19-origins-rejects-some-points-raised-by-lab-leak-theory-proponents/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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AI Verified Ratcliffe explicitly supports the statement: saying “The lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense” directly endorses a lab-related origin and rejects zoonotic spillover as the valid explanation. · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago

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AI Verified Verified: the fetchable ABC17/AP article published June 23, 2023 contains the exact sentence, “The lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense,” and attributes it to John Ratcliffe with “Ratcliffe said in a statement.” A later CBS/AP article updated January 27, 2025 repeats the same wording and says Ratcliffe said it in 2023, corroborating the attribution and date context. I found no reliable evidence that the stored author, quote text, date, or source URL need correction. ([abc17news.com](https://abc17news.com/news/ap-national-news/2023/06/23/us-intelligence-report-on-covid-19-origins-rejects-some-points-raised-by-lab-leak-theory-proponents/)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 2h ago
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