Hello, everyone. I'm Dana Perino, along with Judge Dean Piro, Harold Ford Jr., Jesse Waters,

Angerig Gutfeld. It's 5 o'clock in New York City, and this is the five.

So much for a conspiracy theory, President Biden's Energy Department has concluded that COVID

most likely escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. And now, conservatives are saying,

told you so. They claim the revelation is yet another black guy for the media and big tech.

At one point, you could find yourself banned from social media for even bringing up the

possibility of a lab leak. And remember, when the media and Dr. Fauci were quick to dismiss it.

Just weeks ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci rejected the conspiracy that coronavirus was man-made

in a lab in Wuhan, China. Both scientists and the US intelligence community agree that this

coronavirus was not man-made. That is not a possibility. Really just take a critical scientific look

at the evidence that's available. Our belief is that it's much more likely this came from an

animal. You said the overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that's a lab leak. I believe

most card-carrying viral phylogenists and molecular virologists would disagree with you.

Really sorry that the lab leak has become such a distraction for so many people, because frankly,

we still don't know. There is no evidence really to say. And the White House is downplaying the

report because nothing is conclusive and also then defending Dr. Fauci.

There is not a consensus right now in the US government about exactly how COVID started.

There is just not an intelligence community consensus. President believes it's really important

that we continue that work and that we find out as best we can how it started so that we can

better prevent a future pandemic. We have been grateful to Dr. Fauci's wisdom. We've been grateful

to Dr. Fauci's advice during the COVID response. This is someone again who has spent his almost

entire career fighting for the well-being, the health of American people. But that's not the only

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