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Credibility Crisis: CNN Boss Ordered Staff Not to Chase Down COVID Lab Leak Theory as Pandemic Unfolded
CNN has long referred to itself as “the most trusted name in news” and famously launched its “Facts First” campaign during the Trump era, but like many other outlets, that sentiment fell by the wayside when it came to the COVID lab-leak theory.
In recent days, the theory that COVID originated from a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology has been embraced by FBI Director Christopher Wray and a bombshell report indicated that the U.S. Energy Department believes the virus likely started in the lab, a sentiment expressed by top Trump administration officials nearly from the outset.
But in the early months of the pandemic, then-CNN president Jeff Zucker would not allow his network to chase down the lab-leak story because he believed it was a “Trump talking point,” according to a well-placed CNN insider.
“People are slowly waking up from the fog,” the insider told Fox News Digital. “It is kind of crazy that we didn’t chase it harder.”
New Emails Show Dr. Anthony Fauci Commissioned Scientific Paper in Feb. 2020 to Disprove Wuhan Lab Leak Theory
New emails uncovered by House Republicans probing the COVID-19 pandemic reveal the deceptive nature of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
They show he “prompted” or commissioned — and had final approval on — a scientific paper written specifically in February 2020 to disprove the theory that the virus leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Eight weeks later, Fauci stood at a White House press conference alongside President Donald Trump and cited that paper as evidence that the lab leak theory was implausible while pretending it had nothing to do with him and he did not know the authors.
House Republicans to Grill Trump’s CDC Director Over COVID Origins
A Donald Trump-era Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director is set to appear before the House COVID-19 origins subcommittee this week.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic will hold its first hearing Wednesday, investigating the origins of COVID-19. The theory that the virus originated from an accidental lab leak has circulated for years and was first dismissed as a conspiracy. However, a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) revealed with “low confidence” that the theory is possible, reigniting debate on where the virus came from.
Dr. Robert Redfield, who led the CDC from 2018 to 2021, will appear at Wednesday’s hearing. House Republicans have been seeking an explanation for the virus’ origins, with Redfield likely explaining that he believes the virus originated in a lab, which is what he has said in the past.
China Continues to Block Efforts to Determine COVID’s Origins, Lawmakers Say
Lawmakers said on Sunday that it remained impossible to determine with any certainty the origins of COVID-19 because of continued obstruction by China’s government. “We have so few facts because the Chinese regime has obfuscated,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Sunday’s discussion followed reports late last month that the Department of Energy had concluded that COVID-19 most likely began with an accidental laboratory leak in China — a position it shares with the FBI.
“There’s no direct evidence, we don’t have China admitting it, we don’t have Wuhan Lab handing these things over,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) said, referring to the city that is home to several laboratories and where the virus first circulated in late 2019.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Energy Department report supported the view he took back in 2020 when he was part of the Trump administration. “Make no mistake, this is a Chinese virus that came from the laboratory,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.”
WHO Calls on U.S. to Share Information on COVID Origins After China Lab Claims
The World Health Organization has urged all countries to reveal what they know about the origins of COVID-19, after claims from several U.S. government agencies that a Chinese lab leak was behind the disease were furiously denied by Beijing.
“If any country has information about the origins of the pandemic, it’s essential for that information to be shared with WHO and the international scientific community,” the WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday.
The FBI director, Christopher Wray, told Fox News on Tuesday that his agency had now assessed the source of the COVID-19 pandemic was “most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.”
The first infections from coronavirus were recorded in late 2019 in the Chinese city, which hosts a virus research laboratory. Chinese officials have denied the FBI claim, calling it a smear campaign against Beijing.
Doctors, Scientists Call on Mississippi Officials to Take COVID Vaccines off the Market
The group of physicians, vaccine-injured people, and whistleblowers speaking at the Mississippi Capitol building on Monday and Tuesday weren’t asking state officials to cease all COVID-19 vaccinations and to convene a grand jury to investigate its rollout in the state. They were demanding it.
On Monday and Tuesday, the medical freedom organization MS Against Mandates (MAM) held the Mississippi Medical Freedom Conference in Jackson, Mississippi, which included over a dozen physicians, several whistleblowers, six physician-confirmed vaccine-injured patients, and two parents whose sons died after receiving the vaccines.
Dr. Peter McCullough, a practicing internist and cardiologist in Dallas who is also the national medical adviser for MAM, told The Epoch Times that the purpose of the three-and-a-half-hour roundtable — chaired by Republican state Rep. Randy Boyd — was primarily to educate Mississippi officials about safety concerns regarding the vaccine.
The meeting in the chamber was followed by a press conference on Tuesday on the Capitol building’s steps, where the assembly continued their call for transparency and the removal of the vaccines from the market.
“People are being injured and dying suddenly from these shots, and the state needs to recognize it,” said Dr. John Witcher, the co-founder and former president of MAM.
The Winter COVID Surge That Wasn’t
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The predictions ranged, but some of the warnings were stark: 100 million Americans could be infected with COVID-19 in what would be a massive fall and winter surge. Ultimately, though, the U.S. ended up with its first winter of the pandemic without a large wave of coronavirus.
“This winter there was no major surge similar to what we have seen before,” says Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. “No major increase in hospitalization or mortality. And that’s true across the Northern Hemisphere, where winter is what we expect from now on as we will have a seasonal increase in COVID-19.”
So what caused the drop-off in numbers? The main driver was the high level of COVID-19 immunity in the population, according to experts.
DC Says It Will Close Its COVID Centers, Citing a Decline in Cases
DC public health officials plan to close the city’s eight COVID centers on March 31 because of a drop in new infections and the widespread availability of vaccines and home testing kits, according to a DC Health statement released Friday.
District officials on Tuesday stopped offering free rapid tests and self-service PCR tests at libraries and senior centers.
The closures come as the federal government prepares for the May 11 expiration of national emergencies to combat the coronavirus.
Right on Cue: Pfizer Keeps up Cadence of COVID Risk Awareness Pushes With Another Diagnostic Pact
Pfizer is once again looking to a diagnostic developer to drum up interest in its COVID-19 drug. Having kicked off the strategy last year through deals with Lucira Health and Roche, the Big Pharma has now partnered with Cue Health to raise awareness of the risks of progressing to severe COVID-19.
Facing a predicted 58% drop in annual sales of its COVID-19 antiviral Paxlovid, Pfizer is searching for ways to persuade people of the need to get a prescription when they test positive for SARS-CoV-2. The search has led the drugmaker to try to target patients at the key point in the process: the moment they receive a positive COVID-19 test result.
Cue is one of the companies delivering those test results. As a result of the new partnership, users of the Cue Health App will have access to educational resources such as the materials on knowplango.com, a Pfizer website that explains the factors that put people at higher risk of severe COVID-19 and how they can access oral treatments. Pfizer tapped four celebrities to push the message in a TV spot in January.
CDC: XBB.1.5 Responsible for 90% of New Coronavirus Infections
U.S. News & World Report reported:
The highly transmissible Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is well on its way to being responsible for virtually all COVID-19 infections in the U.S.
According to updated estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, XBB.1.5 caused nearly 90% of new coronavirus cases this week. That’s up from 85% of cases last week. It’s the only strain showing significant growth.
Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths are on the decline, signaling that the U.S. has avoided a large seasonal COVID-19 surge like it saw the past two years. The main reason is likely the high level of immunity across the population whether through vaccination, infection or both.
