>>8477301
>https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/pro-trump-oan-pushes-wild-conspiracy-theory-novel-coronavirus-was-created
On March 14 and 15, pro-Trump cable news network OAN aired a coronavirus special called Exposing China's Coronavirus: The Fears, The Lies and The Unknown. During that program, the network’s chief White House correspondent, Chanel Rion, suggested that the novel coronavirus responsible for the current pandemic may have originated in a North Carolina laboratory.
As support, Rion cited Greg Rubini, whom she described in the special as “a citizen investigator and monitored source amongst a certain set in the D.C. intelligence community.”
There is no evidence that Rubini is a “monitored source” for anyone but Rion. He has pushed wild “deep state” conspiracy theories on Twitter, where he has over 100,000 followers.
Rubini has said that the novel coronavirus “was GENETICALLY ENGINEERED as a Bio-Weapon at the Univ. of North Carolina BSL-3 Lab.” He has also said that it was spread from North Carolina to China, Italy, and elsewhere in the United States by the “Deep State” in a plot “to destroy the Trump economy.” In addition, Rubini suggested that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the well-respected head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, personally funded the production of the virus, even calling him
“Little Tony Fauci.”
The OAN special, which was promoted on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, began with commentary like what you would see on Fox News, such as calling COVID-19 “Chinese-born” (viruses have neither a race nor a nationality) and saying that President Donald Trump had taken strong steps to protect America (he downplayed the threat and reacted extraordinarily poorly and slowly).
The first hints of just how deranged that this special would be showed up in the second segment, which was, amazingly, geared toward attacking South Korean President Moon Jae-in. The segment featured a panel including two former top Trump officials: acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and former National Security Council chief of staff Fred Fleitz. The panel also included columnist and frequent Fox guest Gordon Chang and former South Korean official Cho Tae-yong. The panelists attacked Moon’s response to the coronavirus epidemic, with Fleitz even saying that the South Korean president showed “incompetence and naivete” because he has downplayed threats coming from China and North Korea. (South Korea’s response to coronavirus has been widely considered a success, thanks largely to its aggressive testing regime, an area in which the U.S. has failed.)