A former director of the CDC under Donald Trump says he believes COVID-19 may have been born in a North Carolina laboratory as part of a secret biodefense program.

Robert Redfield has previously been a proponent of the 'lab leak' theory which posits the disease came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

Now Redfield - a frequent critic of Dr. Anthony Fauci - says that the disease may have origins in the Tar Heel State.  

Appearing on the Third Opinion podcast, Redfield flat out stated that COVID-19 was 'intentionally engineered as a part of a biodefense program.'

He now argues that China did not necessarily create the virus and did the best that they could once 'they realized they had a problem.  

However, he calls the United States' role in the development of the virus 'substantial.'

He claims that the American government holds responsibility for funding research into the NIH, USAID and the Department of Defense. 

He then calls out researcher Dr. Ralph Baric from the University of North Carolina, whom he calls 'the scientific mastermind' behind all of this. 

'I think he probably helped create some of the original viral lines, but I can't prove that. But he was very involved,' he said. 

When pressed on whether the virus was 'actually developed here' and that the Chinese may have been wrongfully accused of developing the virus, Redfield doubles down.

'Well, I don't know if they were framed, but I think there is a real possibility that the virus's birthplace was Chapel Hill,' Redfield said, naming the hometown of the University of North Carolina. 

DailyMail.com has reached out to Dr. Baric for comment. 

The virus is believed to have originated in bats, but debate is currently raging over whether it leaked from the Wuhan lab - and whether it was modified by Chinese scientists to become more contagious beforehand.  

Redfield, who was CDC director under the Trump administration, has in the past said Fauci was 'holding on tightly' to the theory that the virus evolved naturally, before likening the White House COVID tsar to a 'dog with a bone.'