It 100% is because IIRC it came from anonymous intelligence officials, and was explicitly paired with another total bullshit story from last year that claimed intelligence agencies had detected an "epidemic" in the works in Hubei as early as September 2019. That last one was also leaked by anonymous intelligence officials as a deliberate smear against Trump. But now that Trump's gone and Biden's in, they're using it to supplement their main drive to prime the public for a hawkish stance on China.
anon intelligence officials published by the same guy that started the Iraq WMDs rumors based on dubious nonsense, it's so fucking ridiculous
Wang pointed out that one of the reporters who took significant flak for a story on Hussein's believed possession of dangerous weapons was Michael Gordon.
Years later, Gordon co-authored an article for the Wall Street Journal about a U.S. intelligence report that found that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were hospitalized in November 2019. Gordon and his co-authors acknowledged that current and former officials varied in the weight they gave the report, with one calling it "potentially significant" and another saying it was of "exquisite quality."
It 100% is because IIRC it came from anonymous intelligence officials, and was explicitly paired with another total bullshit story from last year that claimed intelligence agencies had detected an "epidemic" in the works in Hubei as early as September 2019. That last one was also leaked by anonymous intelligence officials as a deliberate smear against Trump. But now that Trump's gone and Biden's in, they're using it to supplement their main drive to prime the public for a hawkish stance on China.
anon intelligence officials published by the same guy that started the Iraq WMDs rumors based on dubious nonsense, it's so fucking ridiculous
https://www.newsweek.com/china-likens-lab-leak-momentum-us-hyping-weapons-mass-destruction-ahead-iraq-war-1599405