WATCH: Anderson Cooper Flat-Out Asks Fauci ‘Are The FBI And Energy Dept Right About The Lab Leak?’

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper flat-out asked Dr. Anthony Fauci if the FBI and DOE are “right” about the lab leak theory on the origin of the COVID pandemic.

The Department of Energy’s “low-confidence” assessment that the COVID-19 pandemic likely originated via a lab leak and subsequent comments by FBI Director Christopher Wray in a Fox News interview have reignited interest in the disputed theory — as has the Chinese government’s lack of transparency and cooperation in investigating the origins.

On Friday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper kicked off his interview by asking Fauci, who has strongly favored the natural occurrence theory as recently as December, if he thinks the agencies are correct in their assessments of varying confidence:

ANDERSON COOPER: Dr. Fauci, it’s good to see you. Are the FBI and Energy Department right about the lab leak?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI: Well, it’s very tough to tell that, Anderson, because they’re talking about information that they have that we don’t have privy to. So we don’t really know.

They have made opinions on low confidence from the Department of Energy and moderate confidence, I believe, from the FBI. So, I don’t think there’s a really correct and verifiable answer to your question. It just still remains unknown at this particular point.

There are two theories, as we’re all familiar with now. One is the lab leak theory. The other is that it was a natural occurrence from an animal spillover. The one thing is that we have to keep an open mind about this until there’s definitive evidence.

COOPER: How important is it to figure it out?

FAUCI: We know from study — well, it is, Anderson, because you want to make sure that, whichever of those alternatives it is, that we do whatever we can to prevent it from happening in the future, because we have had outbreaks before.

I mean, we had SARS-CoV-1, which was clearly shown to go from a bat to a civet cat to a human. And if there’s a possibility, which there is, certainly — we haven’t ruled it out — of there being a lab leak, there are things that you can do to prevent the recurrence of these things.

For example, the data showing that it might be a natural occurrence would make you want to be very careful about the animal-human interface, and make sure that we have strict regulation of bringing animals into wet markets. If it turns out to be a lab leak, you want to be very much more stringent in the controls of the experiments that you allow to be done.

So, it is relevant to understand. Whether or not we ever will know, Anderson, I’m not sure. But it certainly is important to know.

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