GOP report debunks Trump conspiracy theory about COVID-19's origins

House Republicans issued a scathing report blaming the Chinese government for the global coronavirus pandemic -- but found no evidence the virus escaped from a lab.

The GOP minority on the House Foreign Affairs Committee investigated the outbreak's origins and rebuked the Chinese Communist Party for covering up the extent of the outbreak late last year, but was unable to support President Donald Trump's conspiracy theory about the virus, reported CNN.

Trump claimed last month that he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" the virus originated in a Wuhan lab, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has pushed intelligence services to uncover the precise origin of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Intelligence officials complained about the pressure to link the outbreak to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to two sources familiar with their frustrations, but scientists and intelligence-sharing allies agree it's "highly unlikely" the virus originated in a lab.

The GOP report highlights lingering safety concerns regarding that lab, but notes those questions are "not evidence that the ongoing pandemic is the result of a release, accidental or deliberate, from the lab, or what the staffing status was at the time of the outbreak of COVID-19 in late 2019."