They would have samples of every step of the experiments, which would also be perfect for faking the discovery of the missing link to the last known wild type.

They would have samples of every step of the experiments, which would also be perfect for faking the discovery of the missing link to the last known wild type. You just take one of the samples and claim to have found it in a pangolin or whatever, and prove your innocence. The fact that they they didn’t do that, suggests they couldn’t.