Joy Behar of ABC claimed Wednesday that former President Donald Trump had only blamed China for the novel coronavirus because he was looking for a scapegoat at the time.
Behar argued on ABC’s “The View” that Trump had simply taken a guess at where the virus had originated and had caught a “lucky break” when it became apparent that he was probably right. (RELATED: ‘Excuse Me, I’m Not Done’: Joy Behar And Meghan McCain Square Off In Explosive Segment On Fauci And Vaccine Hesitancy)
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Cohost Whoopi Goldberg raised the question of the coronavirus’ origins, asking cohost Sara Haines to weigh in on the conflicting theories.
Haines argued that the lab-leak theory — which has steadily gained credibility in recent weeks — might have been dismissed early on because it was promoted by the Trump administration and people were predisposed not to believe him.
“I think more investigation is needed. Whether the World Health Organization is the one to do it is debatable,” Haines added, noting that the WHO might be overly influenced by the Chinese government. “We need people from all over the globe to come together and get in there because China has not been transparent about this.”
Goldberg then turned to Behar, asking, “Is it fair to criticize Fauci for not knowing the exact answer when everyone wanted it?”
“No. I mean, you know, this anti-science crowd on the right with the — with Trump has been criticizing Fauci from the giddy-up as if he’s an Oracle of Delphi,” Behar replied, saying that Dr. Anthony Fauci was limited by the scientific information available and had changed his opinion as the science developed.
“Trump was blaming the Chinese from the beginning. He was using them as scapegoats,” Behar continued. “If it happens to be true it was from Wuhan, that was a lucky break on his part because he took a guess, in my opinion.”