Competing US views on origins of Covid reveal deeper splits over China policy

FBI chief’s endorsement of Covid lab leak theory highlights the tussle between hawks and doves within the administration

The FBI chief, Chris Wray, has endorsed the theory that the Covid pandemic was the result of a laboratory leak in China, further sharpening an increasingly combative bilateral relationship.

In making his intervention, Wray, who was appointed by Donald Trump, was also taking sides in an internal debate over Covid’s origins, which has become a proxy for a broader tussle between hawks and doves within the administration.