Scott Morrison reveals he still meets Trump, spills his theory on COVID origins

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has revealed he believes the most credible theory about the origins of COVID-19 is that the virus leaked from a lab, as he confirms he still meets US President Donald Trump.

In a rare interview, Morrison – who was prime minister in 2020 when the pandemic hit – told New Zealand TV program Q+A with Jack Tame that China’s behaviour during COVID was “internationally deplorable” after Beijing imposed tariffs on Australia following the Coalition’s petition for an inquiry into the origin of the virus.

The US Central Intelligence Agency released an assessment in January that it now believes the virus responsible for the COVID pandemic was most likely to have originated in a laboratory, which Morrison said he also believed to be the case.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison says he believes COVID probably came from a lab.Credit: TVNZ

“I think the lab theory is the most credible, unquestionably the most credible, and frankly a little less disconcerting [than] that it was coming out of the wildlife wet market, well, they happen every other week in most parts of South East Asia,” Morrison said on the New Zealand program released on Friday.

“I’m not saying they did it deliberately … but they didn’t tell the world, and millions upon millions of people died, economies were shut down.

“The lack of accountability that China has shown for that global calamity is just astounding.”

Morrison was one of the first world leaders to confront China on its role sparking the pandemic, ordering that Australia shut its borders to all foreign nationals travelling from China on February 1, 2020.

The lab leak theory was originally dismissed by many scientists, but has gained credence over time.

The CIA report, which was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns, was not the result of new intelligence but was declassified after order from Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in as director.

The nuanced finding suggested the agency believed the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin. However, the agency’s assessment assigned a low degree of confidence to this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory.

Intelligence officials say it may never be resolved due to a lack of co-operation from Chinese authorities.

The CIA “continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible”, the agency wrote in a statement.

Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny (far left) spent New Year’s Eve with the then president elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania at their Florida resort Mar-a-Lago. Credit: Instagram

Separately in 2021, a group of international experts travelled to Wuhan as part of a World Health Organisation study team to investigate the source of the pandemic, but were not given full access to records or sites in the city where the pandemic first broke out.

The group found the most likely cause of the pandemic was a virus jumping from one animal species to another – possibly bat to pangolin – and then into humans.

The former prime minister also reflected in the interview on his relationship with Trump and how countries can best deal with the president’s demands for tariffs, as Morrison said the pair worked well together when they were leaders.

Morrison said Australia was likely to be in a better position compared to other countries, with the chance to be exempted from tariffs because of the relationship built through AUKUS.

“[AUKUS] is a very deep relationship, and that gives you a pretty big foot in the door,” Morrison said.

“I don’t believe there’s a closer alley to the United States than Australia, there is not one, there is not a country in the world that can claim as close a relationship in the United States than Australia.”

Later in the interview, Morrison spoke of his relationship with Trump.

“We have a good relationship, I’m not overstating it but yes, we work together very well and in a friendly way when he was president and I was prime minister,” Morrison said.

“We continue to meet now … and I share his outlook for, you know, what he’s trying to do, and I think there are great benefits and we’re already seeing it in places like the Middle East and what I hope to see in Ukraine and other places.

“[Trump is] a steadying hand that brings peace through strength, which the world dearly needs, after the chaos of the last number of years, where the world has basically burst into flames. We don’t need more of that.”

Morrison and his wife Jenny spent New Year’s Eve with Trump and his wife Melania at a big party at the president’s exclusive Florida resort Mar-a-Lago.

On Friday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said no when asked if Morrison had broken a promise to Trump to rein in aluminium exports to the US, as was alleged this week by Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro.

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with AP