Classified report with early support for lab leak theory reemerges as focal point for lawmakers

The report, which was issued by researchers at the government-backed Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in May 2020, found that it was possible that the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, according to four people familiar with the document, at a time when that line of inquiry was considered politically taboo. It’s not clear how influential the paper’s findings were in advancing the government’s understanding of the virus’s origins nor whether the document weighed in on a simmering debate over