A fallback to just another line of defence. Maybe a preparation for information that will get released by the Trump administration.

The last line of defence will be "OK, we created the virus at Ft. Detrick - but it wasn't us who released it, the Chinese stole it!!!11"

so, business as usual for the CIA, pretending like they weren’t directly involved

When Ma screams "WHO made this mess?!" and "Wasn't me!" isn't working, so you decide to blame the younger sibling.

It's like that.

Yeah, cause China and "absolutely nobody" in the U.S. Government had anything to lose in the 2020 election.

What the fuck do they expect to find after all these years? China went to great lengths to cover up their involvement, potentially even flooding several cities including Wuhan and killing dozens of people in the process. There can't be much left to find.

Same shit, different zog.