[mmooss]

Yes, but we can assume - Trump and his people have openly communicated, planned, and followed through on it - that the actions of executive branch agencies are politicized.

Here we are told that the "C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, ... wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate."; that he's long favored the lab-leak theory (which is a politicized issue); and of all the things a brand new new CIA director must do, we see that this was Ratcliffe's first priority. We know that the CIA did not choose to release the report before the Trump administration.

I think the overwhelming evidence is that it's a politicized action. Would Trump or his team lie or mislead? Of course. We can't give them the benefit of the trust until proven false; they have embraced deceit.

Unfortunately, even though they weren't always credible before, I think that means that these things are now meaningless, other than as clues to Trump's and others' intents: Why prioritize this messaging? Whose idea was it? And always, cui bono - who benefits?

[ironyman]

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released the following statement about the CIA’s findings on the origins of the Coronavirus:

“I’ve said from the beginning that Covid likely originated in the Wuhan labs. Communist China covered it up and the liberal media covered for them. I’m pleased the CIA concluded in the final days of the Biden administration that the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation of Covid’s origins and I commend Director Ratcliffe for fulfilling his promise to release this conclusion. Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world.”

[scintill76]

Having no other information, the fact he went out of his way to associate it with Biden makes it seem actually politically driven by Trump/Republicans.

[netsharc]

He wants to give it a "it's a bipartisan conclusion, so it's sane!".

Considering it's "with low confidence", someone else could've published the findings focusing on the low confidence rather than the fact that their needle is pointing more towards "lab leak".

[jfengel]

"Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world.”

Is that really true? Even supposing it was a leak from a lab, is punishing China really our top priority? What does it accomplish? What does it look like?

That sounds like the goal isn't to find the actual cause, but to seek excuses to justify whatever it is he wishes to inflict on China.

[mmooss]

What do you think of Cotton's statement (that is, why in particular are you posting it)?

[jjtheblunt]

Maybe because your first sentence above mentioned politicizing. (?)

[TylerE]

Tom Cotton is one the lowest integrity people I washington. Watch him in Cspan sometime. Just a buffoon.

[MilnerRoute]

The Times also includes this unusual sentence. "There is no new intelligence behind the agency’s shift, officials said."

And right below the headline on the Wall Street Journal they even stressed that the CIA says it had 'low confidence' in its finding...

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/cia-now-favor...