Earlier, US national intelligence director's office said it was still investigating how the virus originated. However, the office said it had concluded the virus "was not manmade or genetically modified".
China has refused the theory that the virus was created in one of its labs.
Since its discovery in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year, the coronavirus is confirmed to have infected 3.2 million people worldwide and caused more than 230,000 deaths.
At the White House on Thursday, President Trump was asked by a reporter: "Have you seen anything at this point that gives you a high degree of confidence that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the origin of this virus?"
Trump answered: "Yes, I have. Yes, I have,
"And I think the World Health Organization should be ashamed of themselves because they're like the public relations agency for China."
He later clarified his answer: "I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that."
He also said: "Whether they [China] made a mistake, or whether it started off as a mistake and then they made another one, or did somebody do something on purpose?
"I don't understand how traffic, how people weren't allowed into the rest of China, but they were allowed into the rest of the world.
“That's a bad, that's a hard question for them to answer."
Senior White House officials have tasked US intelligence agencies to inspect whether the virus originated in a Wuhan research laboratory, The New York Times reported.
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Unnamed officials told NBC on Wednesday that intelligence agencies were also asked to investigate if China and the World Health Organisation (WHO) had kept information about the virus during early days from the rest of the world.
In a rare public statement, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees US spy agencies, said on Thursday it agrees with the "wide scientific consensus" in regards to coronavirus’ natural origins.
Adding that “the [intelligence community] will continue to rigorously examine emerging information and intelligence to determine whether the outbreak began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."
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It was the first time an American intelligence refuted conspiracy theories about the virus being created as a bioweapon – by either country.
Trump has been escalating tensions with China over the coronavirus crisis after what trump’s administration officials dubbed a truce with Beijing.
The latest attack came on Wednesday, when Trump indicated that China wanted him to losing in the November elections.
It came after he accused Beijing of withholding information about the virus early on.
He launched a similar attack on the WHO before withdrawing US funding for the agency.
China's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has accused the Trump administration of trying to distract from its own issues dealing with the pandemic.
A ministry spokesman has also repeatedly endorsed the message – without evidence – that coronavirus might have started in the US.
According to the Washington Post, the Trump administration is considering imposing financial sanctions on China.
Possibilities reportedly include having the US government sue China for damages or abolishing debt obligations.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMid2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmV4cHJlc3MuY28udWsvbmV3cy93b3JsZC8xMjc2MzQ1L2RvbmFsZC10cnVtcC1jaGluYS1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy11cy1pbnRlbGxpZ2VuY2UtdGhlb3J5LWNvdmlkLTE5LXdvcmxkLXdhci0z0gF7aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZXhwcmVzcy5jby51ay9uZXdzL3dvcmxkLzEyNzYzNDUvZG9uYWxkLXRydW1wLWNoaW5hLWNvcm9uYXZpcnVzLXVzLWludGVsbGlnZW5jZS10aGVvcnktY292aWQtMTktd29ybGQtd2FyLTMvYW1w?oc=5
2020-05-01 06:29:00Z
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