{"id":538747,"date":"2021-05-24T16:20:15","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T20:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=538747"},"modified":"2021-05-24T16:20:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T20:20:23","slug":"media-dismissed-lab-leak-theory-because-trump-talked-about-it-according-to-washington-post-senior-reporter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/media-dismissed-lab-leak-theory-because-trump-talked-about-it-according-to-washington-post-senior-reporter\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Dismissed Lab Leak Theory Because Trump Talked About It, According To Washington Post Senior Reporter"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmedia-dismissed-lab-leak-theory-because-trump-talked-about-it-according-to-washington-post-senior-reporter%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=538747&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><strong>The corporate press spent the better part of a year calling the lab leak theory a conspiracy because former President Donald Trump talked about it, according to Washington Post senior reporter Aaron Blake.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cGiven everything we know about how Trump handled such things, caution and skepticism were invited. That (very much warranted) caution and skepticism spilled over into some oversimplification, particularly when it came to summarizing the often more circumspect reporting,\u201d Blake wrote.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Blake said the Trump administration provided no evidence to back up its early claims that it had evidence showing COVID-19 originated from a lab in Wuhan.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Evidence pointing to the legitimacy of the lab leak theory was printed in the Washington Post by opinion columnist Josh Rogin as early as April 2020.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The corporate press spent much of the pandemic dismissing the theory that COVID-19 could have accidentally leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology because former President Donald Trump talked about it, according to Washington Post senior reporter Aaron Blake.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt has become evident that some corners of the mainstream media overcorrected when it came to one particular theory from Trump and his allies: that the coronavirus emanated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, rather than naturally,\u201d Blake wrote in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2021\/05\/24\/fix-china-lab-leak-0524\/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=wp_politics&amp;tid=sm_tw_pol\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis piece<\/a> published Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s also true that many criticisms of the coverage are overwrought and that Trump\u2019s and his allies\u2019 claims invited and deserved skepticism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Blake explained that the media was justified in being skeptical of the lab leak theory because Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had leaned in \u201chard\u201d to the theory without providing \u201ceven piecemeal evidence\u201d to support their claims.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven everything we know about how Trump handled such things, caution and skepticism were invited,\u201d Blake wrote. \u201cThat (very much warranted) caution and skepticism spilled over into some oversimplification, particularly when it came to summarizing the often more circumspect reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven how the Trump administration handled intelligence, there is very little doubt that, if some kind of proof had existed, Trump would have pushed hard for its release,\u201d Blake added. \u201cTrump could have done so whenever he wanted. It never happened. The best evidence for it has emerged a year later, with Trump out of power.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But evidence pointing to the legitimacy of the lab leak theory was printed in the pages of the Washington Post as early as April 2020, when its opinion columnist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2020\/04\/14\/state-department-cables-warned-safety-issues-wuhan-lab-studying-bat-coronaviruses\/\">Josh Rogin<\/a> revealed that the State Department sent two cables in 2018 warning of safety and management issues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). One of the cables stated the WIV\u2019s work on bat coronaviruses represented the risk of a new pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>And one of the Washington Post\u2019s quoted experts, Rutgers University molecular biologist Richard Ebright, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in April 2020 that it was entirely possible that COVID-19 could have been unleashed into the human population due to a leak from the WIV. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/04\/02\/coronavirus-leaked-wuhan-institute-virology-richard-ebright-shi-zhengli\/\">(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Coronavirus Expert Says Virus Could Have Leaked From Wuhan Lab)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7198865\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"41\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7198865\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-7198865 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-scaled-1.jpg\" alt=\"US President Donald Trump (L) gestures as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, smiles during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 21, 2020, in Washington, DC. (JIM WATSON\/AFP via Getty Images)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7198865\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">US President Donald Trump (L) gestures as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, smiles during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, at the White House on March 21, 2020, in Washington, DC. (JIM WATSON\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rogin was also one of the first to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/global-opinions\/the-coronavirus-crisis-shows-the-risks-of-scientific-collaboration-with-china\/2020\/04\/23\/4ccd5850-85a8-11ea-878a-86477a724bdb_story.html\">highlight<\/a> that one of the most outspoken American scientists that spoke out in defense of the WIV during the early stages of the pandemic, Dr. Peter Daszak, had a potential conflict of interest due to his longtime collaboration with the lab.<\/p>\n<p>Daszak was responsible for orchestrating a statement in The Lancet medical journal in February 2020 that condemned \u201cconspiracy theories\u201d suggesting COVID-19 doesn\u2019t have a natural origin.<\/p>\n<p>A spokesman for Daszak would <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/01\/18\/peter-daszak-lancet-statment-protect-chinese-scientists\/\">later reveal<\/a> to The Wall Street Journal in January that the statement, which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/factcheck\/2020\/03\/21\/fact-check-did-coronavirus-originate-chinese-laboratory\/2881150001\/\">cited<\/a>&nbsp;by numerous news outlets \u2014 and by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2020\/may\/21\/kimberly-lightford\/no-novel-coronavirus-was-not-man-made\/\">fact check<\/a>&nbsp;organizations to censor unwelcome inquiries \u2014 during the onset of the pandemic, was meant to protect Chinese scientists.<\/p>\n<p>The corporate press has made an abrupt about-face in its framing of the lab leak theory in recent weeks after spending the better part of the year casting down the origin theory as a baseless conspiracy.<\/p>\n<p>Blake pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/05\/23\/3-wuhan-lab-scientists-hospitalized-2019-us-intel\/\">reporting<\/a> from The Wall Street Journal on Sunday that three researchers from the WIV became so sick in November 2019 that they became hospitalized as the latest piece of evidence pointing to the legitimacy of the lab leak theory.<\/p>\n<p>The Journal\u2019s report came months after Trump\u2019s State Department released a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/01\/16\/wuhan-institute-of-virology-lab-accident-coroanvirus\/?jwsource=cl&amp;page=30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fact sheet<\/a> on Jan. 15 that claimed that \u201cseveral researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak. The symptoms were reportedly consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another early <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/05\/23\/anthony-fauci-lab-leak-covid-19-coronavirus\/\">critic<\/a> of the theory, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told PolitiFact in May that he was \u201cnot convinced\u201d when asked if he was \u201cstill confident that it developed naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PolitiFact also <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/05\/20\/politifact-retracts-lab-leak-fact-check\/\">retracted<\/a> a fact check from September 2020 in May that had called a Hong Kong virologist\u2019s claim that COVID-19 was a lab-created virus a \u201cdebunked conspiracy theory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An editors\u2019 note explaining why PolitiFact removed the fact check from its website stated that the assertion from experts at the time that the virus could not have been manipulated is \u201cnow more widely disputed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The corporate press spent the better part of a year calling the lab leak theory a conspiracy because former President Donald Trump talked about it, according to Washington Post senior &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312845,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Media Dismissed Lab Leak Theory Because Trump Talked About It, According To Washington Post Senior Reporter","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/trump-fauci-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Media Dismissed Lab Leak Theory Because Trump Talked About It, According To Washington Post Senior Reporter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}