Fauci/not Fauci, China lab/not China lab IDGAF. The better question is EVEN IF the China lab didn't accidentally/intentionally release this, and EVEN IF Fauci/CDC/Whoever didn't realize what they were financing, why in the FUCK would we or anyone do gain-of-function research? That research is literally trying to create killer viruses that don't exist today, specifically the kind that can infect humans! Like, WTF! WHY?!?!?! I've seen Fauci and that British fucktard spinning bullshit about how GAF "helps us understand how viruses evolve in the wild so that we can better respond to them when they occur." Sorry, but that's bullshit. I have yet to see how 30 years of GOF research Pfizer and Moderna create their vaccine. Or any other evidence that the bullshit benefit outweighs the absolutely 100% certain and currently demonstrable risks of an outbreak like COVID. Or worse! COVID is actually mild compared some of the other shit they've cooked up that hasn't escaped. What if they created an airborne transmissible version of something like Ebola...imagination runs wild.
The arrogance of the Fauci's and the Peter Daszak's of the world playing word games with "gain of function" to try to say the research Wuhan was doing wasn't actually GOF in his political fight w/ Rand Paul is astounding. Then basically saying "Well you normal people just aren't smart enough to understand what we're doing here" smacks of narcissists playing God in a lab. Yeah, we're not PhD virologists but we don't have to be to understand that gain of function "...aim to increase the ability of infectious agents to cause disease by enhancing its pathogenicity or by increasing its transmissibility." If someone can make the argument that GOF benefits outweigh the risks, I'd love to hear it.