Kristian Andersen, still young and brash, thinks doubletalk will save him and his brilliant career

He is digging in his heels.  Maybe he thinks tenure will save him.  Will the juicy grants dry up?  Fauci did reward him with one.

He hasn't learned that the best think to do when the jig is up is to shut up.  He is doing a Fauci, wrapping himself in the Science.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/14/science/covid-lab-leak-fauci-kristian-andersen.html

My comments and conclusions are strictly driven by scientific inquiry, and I strongly believe that careful, well-supported public messaging around complex topics is paramount...

However, while both lab and natural scenarios are possible, they are not equally likely — precedence, data and other evidence strongly favor natural emergence as a highly likely scientific theory for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, while the lab leak remains a speculative hypothesis based on conjecture.

Based on detailed analyses of the virus conducted to date by researchers around the world, it is extremely unlikely that the virus was engineered. The scenario in which the virus was found in nature, brought to the lab and then accidentally release[d] is similarly unlikely, based on current evidence.

In contrast, the scientific theory about the natural emergence of SARS-CoV-2 presents a far simpler and more likely scenario. The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 is very similar to that of SARS-CoV-1, including its seasonal timing, location and association with the human food chain...