Donald Trump has accused President Joe Biden of apparently coordinating with China’s attempt to cover up the origins of Covid-19 after opting against launching a full-scale investigation.
The former president’s lengthy end-of-year newsletter included a section dedicated to his successor’s time in office so far, whom Mr Trump accused of “surrendering” to the Chinese for not putting sufficient pressure on the nation.
The origin of Covid-19 has been the source of much speculation in recent months. Official accounts allege that it came from a Chinese wet market in Wuhan in late 2019, although some scientists, such as Dr Alina Chan, have publically cast doubt on that hypothesis.
The so-called “lab theory“, which speculates that the virus may have accidentally leaked out from a Wuhan laboratory, has gained traction in some circles.
President Biden’s decision not to more deeply investigate the origin of Covid has therefore been called into question by the 75-year-old former president, who released his end-of-year newsletter earlier this week.
While the US intelligence community released a report back in October stating that evidence of the lab leak theory was inconclusive, Mr Trump subsequently went on Fox News to voice his objections. On the network, he claimed it was “so obvious” that the virus did indeed originate from a Wuhan lab, in spite of there being no official confirmation.
As Newsweek reports, the former businessman accused Mr Biden of “bowing down to China”.
Mr Trump then proceeded to take aim at the current president’s overall record since assuming office, critiquing his handling of the pandemic.
“One year in, Joe Biden is a failed president who has surrendered to the virus and broken his number one promise to the American people: to end the pandemic once-and-for-all,” Mr Trump wrote. “[Biden] should be removed from office.”
In a bid to try and get on top of the recent Omicron-variant outbreak, Mr Biden is attempting to address the lateral flow test shortage which has plagued his administration as the new variant has spread widely in the US.
