The scientists said it wasn't a lab leak. The science, from the very start, could have been interpreted either way.

In fact the only real evidence, and all of it tenuous and circumstantial, is in support of a lab leak. There is actually not a single piece of direct evidence AFAIK for zoonotic origin, except that that route is possible (ie no mutations that would be impossible naturally, etc) and the overwhelmingly usual route for novel pathogens.