Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz mocked Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler on Sunday over comments from May 2020 discrediting the theory that COVID-19 originated in a lab in Wuhan.
Cruz jabbed at Kessler after a report by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) concluded that the lab leak theory was the most plausible origin of COVID-19.
“I fear @tedcruz missed the scientific animation in the video that shows how it is virtually impossible for this virus jump from the lab. Or the many interviews with actual scientists. We deal in facts, and viewers can judge for themselves,” Kessler tweeted in response to Cruz in May 2020.
I fear @tedcruz missed the scientific animation in the video that shows how it is virtually impossible for this virus jump from the lab. Or the many interviews with actual scientists. We deal in facts, and viewers can judge for themselves. https://t.co/TprMnaHSZL
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) May 1, 2020
Cruz responded to the old tweet Sunday with a screenshot of an article published in The Wall Street Journal, headlined “Lab Leak Most Likely Origin of Covid-19 Pandemic, U.S. Agency Now Says.”
4 🤡’s for Glenn. https://t.co/587JmvrIOE pic.twitter.com/K0pO6BPvxp
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 26, 2023
“4 🤡’s for Glenn,” Cruz added.
Multiple media outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Associated Press, NPR, Forbes, The Guardian, Vox, Slate, PolitiFact, Business Insider and Scientific American originally downplayed the lab leak theory and labeled it a “conspiracy theory” or “fringe theory.”