Trump demands China pay $10 trillion of 'reparations' to US for damage caused by COVID-19

• Trump demanded that China pay $10 trillion in "reparations" to the US during a speech on Saturday night.
• The former president urged countries that owe money to China to cancel their debts as "down payment" on reparations.
• He said that he blames China for the damage caused by COVID-19, and cited the lab-leak theory.

Former President Donald Trump has demanded that China pay "reparations" to the US for the damage caused by COVID-19, the Independent reported.

During his first public address in three months, Trump argued that China should have to pay up to $10 trillion to the US.

He also suggested that any country that owes money to China should cancel their debts as a "down payment" on reparations and that the US should put 100 percent tariffs on incoming Chinese goods, the Independent said.

"We demand reparations from the Communist Party of China. China must pay. They must pay," the former president said during the speech.

Read more: EXCLUSIVE: Documents reveal how Trump is spending taxpayer money on his postpresidential offices - from printer toner to Stephen Miller's salary

Trump once again expressed his belief that the coronavirus was created in a Chinese laboratory. "We had this horrible thing come in from China, we got that one right too, by the way, do you notice, you see what's going on, it's called the lab, that was an easy one, Wuhan," he said.

As early as April 2020, Trump claimed that he had evidence showing that COVID-19 had originated from a lab in Wuhan. It was initially dismissed as a conspiracy theory.

At the time, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence put out a statement saying that the US intelligence community agreed with the "wide scientific consensus" that the coronavirus was not "manmade or genetically modified," Insider's Sonam Sheth reported.

In recent weeks, however, the lab-leak theory has gained traction, Insider's Tom Porter wrote in late May.

British spies have said that the thesis that COVID-19 leaked from a lab in China is "plausible," The Sunday Times reported.

And President Joe Biden has asked the intelligence community to "redouble their efforts" to determine the origins of the novel coronavirus and to search for an answer as to whether the Chinese government covered up a leak, Insider's Erin Snodgrass said.

The idea that the coronavirus leaked from a lab hasn't been totally ruled out, though a WHO report said it was unlikely, Insider's Aylin Woodward reported.