This is laid out clearly in Wade's article below, and saying it's political is not based on data or science.
https://thebulletin.org/2021/05/the-origin-of-covid-did-peop...
Note the grant specifying the research here, with the chief author of the Lancet letter as recipient.
https://reporter.nih.gov/search/xQW6UJmWfUuOV01ntGvLwQ/proje...