The White House on Monday downplayed a report that the Department of Energy determined a lab leak was the most likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, informing that no government consensus has been reached yet. White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, stated that the president "wants facts, and the whole government is designed to go get those facts and we're just not there yet."

The Energy Department has supposedly produced a study with "low confidence", containing intelligence information which led to a shift in the belief that the virus had jumped from an animal host outside a lab. Kirby and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre have refused to confirm or deny the report yet.

Since the pandemic first started in early 2020, the U.S. intelligence community has been attempting to learn more about its origin, with Republicans making particular suggestions towards a lab in Wuhan, China.