FBI Director Christopher Wray said during an interview on Tuesday that the FBI assesses that a laboratory in Wuhan, China, is responsible for the outbreak of the COVID pandemic and that there is classified material to back up the bureau’s assessment.

The remarks from Wray come after the Department of Energy also recently assessed that the pandemic was the result of a Chinese lab leak, according to The Wall Street Journal.

When asked by Fox News anchor Bret Baier about the FBI’s assessment, Wray responded, “the FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.”

“The FBI has folks, agents, professionals, analysts, virologists, microbiologists, etc., who focus specifically on the dangers of biological threats, which include things like novel viruses, like COVID, and the concerns that in the wrong hands, some bad guys, a hostile nation-state, a terrorist, a criminal,” Wray continued. “The threats that those could pose.”

“So here you’re talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab that killed millions of Americans. And that’s precisely what that capability was designed for,” Wray added. “I should add that our work related to this continues, and there are not a whole lot of details I can share that aren’t classified. I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here. The work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody.”

WATCH:

FBI Director Christopher Wray says that COVID-19 likely originated in a lab in communist China

pic.twitter.com/8XiSXuYYWh

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 28, 2023

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TRANSCRIPT:

BRET BAIER: There’s this Department of Energy study that says it’s likely to have come from a lab leak, although the confidence low, it cites the FBI. What is the determination by the FBI?

CHRISTOPHER WRAY: So as you note, Bret, the FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan. Let me step back for a second. You know, the FBI has folks, agents, professionals, analysts, virologists, microbiologists, etc., who focus specifically on the dangers of biological threats, which include things like novel viruses, like COVID, and the concerns that, in the wrong hands, some bad guys, a hostile nation-state, a terrorist, a criminal, the threats that those could pose. So here you’re talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab that killed millions of Americans. And that’s precisely what that capability was designed for. I should add that that our work related to this continues, and there are not a whole lot of details I can share that aren’t classified. I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here. The work that we’re doing, the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody.

Twitter Safety rolled out a new policy Tuesday afternoon to tackle the problem of threats and violence on the platform, saying that the company has a zero-tolerance policy toward the offenses.

“We’ve made a few changes to our policies around violent content and similar language,” the company said in a statement. “Today, we’ve officially launched our Violent Speech policy, which prohibits violent threats, wishes of harm, glorification of violence, and incitement of violence.”

“Twitter has a zero-tolerance approach towards Violent Speech, and in most cases, we will suspend any account violating this policy,” the statement added. “For less severe violations, we may require you to delete the content before you can access your account again.”

Twitter has a zero-tolerance approach towards Violent Speech, and in most cases, we will suspend any account violating this policy. For less severe violations, we may require you to delete the content before you can access your account again.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 28, 2023

The company’s new policy explicitly states that users are not allowed to “threaten to inflict physical harm on others, which includes (but is not limited to) threatening to kill, torture, sexually assault, or otherwise hurt someone.”

“This also includes threatening to damage civilian homes and shelters, or infrastructure that is essential to daily, civic, or business activities,” the new policy stated.

The policy also states that users are not allowed to “wish, hope, or express desire for harm,” which includes and is not limited to, “hoping for others to die, suffer illnesses, tragic incidents, or experience other physically harmful consequences.”

“You may not incite, promote, or encourage others to commit acts of violence or harm, which includes (but is not limited to) encouraging others to hurt themselves or inciting others to commit atrocity crimes including crimes against humanity, war crimes or genocide,” the policy stated. “This also includes using coded language (often referred to as ‘dog whistles’) to indirectly incite violence.”

The policy also prohibits users from glorifying, praising, and celebrating acts of violence, praising violent entities, and perpetrators who commit crimes.

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The company said that it believes in free speech, including allowing “expressions of violent speech when there is no clear abusive or violent context, such as (but not limited to) hyperbolic and consensual speech between friends, or during discussion of video games and sporting events.”

“We also allow certain cases of figures of speech, satire, or artistic expression when the context is expressing a viewpoint rather than instigating actionable violence or harm,” the policy states. “We make sure to evaluate and understand the context behind the conversation before taking action.”

If users violate the policy, they will in most cases be permanently suspended or, in less severe cases, they will be temporarily locked out of their accounts and the content removed before they can tweet again.