So-called “fact-checkers” at the New York Times alleged Donald Trump Jr. misled the public by saying during the first day of the Republican National Convention Monday that the coronavirus struck the United States “courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)” and his father took swift action to stop travel from China.
The Times claimed that “a wealth of evidence” suggests the coronavirus arrived in the U.S. through Europe and various other routes, not just China, echoing its Democrat allies and Chinese propaganda fueled by the Beijing-influenced World Health Organization (W.H.O.), a United Nations entity.
However, the newspaper’s fact check itself acknowledged that health officials first detected the highly contagious and deadly coronavirus in China. The virus spread to Europe and the rest of the world from China.
The newspaper also omitted a significant detail from its fact check — the first case to reach the United States involved an individual who flew from Wuhan, China, considered the birthplace of the virus, to Seattle, Washington, on January 15.
On Monday, the Times fact-checked Trump Jr. telling the partially virtual convention that “courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party, the virus struck. The president quickly took action and shut down travel from China.”
In asserting that Trump Jr.’s comments were “misleading,” the fact-checker wrote:
Many people in New York, for example, were infected by travelers returning from countries in Europe. President Trump did not block travelers from most European countries until March — long after New Yorkers had already begun traveling home with the virus in tow. … When viruses travel between countries, they typically do so chauffeured by infected people — including residents of both nations, as was the case with the coronavirus.
The Times deemed Trump Jr.’s comments and references to the disease as the “China virus” offensive, adding, “They also paint an incomplete picture of the nature of the coronavirus’s arrival and spread in the United States.”
Health officials believe the virus may have originated in Wuhan wet markets, where animals known to transmit coronaviruses are crammed together in putrid conditions and sold for public consumption.
The Chinese city is also home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers are known to carry out studies on bat coronaviruses.
Moreover, the Times itself reported recently that a new U.S. intelligence report confirmed that Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials hid the severity and dangers of the virus, even from their comrades, allowing the disease to spill over into the rest of the world, including the United States.
The findings validated assertions made by Trump and his administration.
Earlier this year, a leaked dossier prepared by the United States and other Western governments also concluded that the CCP intentionally suppressed or destroyed evidence and covered up news about the outbreak to the “endangerment of other countries.”
China has so far refused to allow American scientists to enter the country to study the virus.
U.S. intelligence officers and other Trump administration officials have questioned if the Chinese coronavirus originated in the Wuhan laboratory rather than through contact with an infected animal.
According to the Trump administration, America is investigating if a Wuhan lab gave birth to the pandemic.
In 2018, U.S. embassy officials in China warned about improper safety protocols at Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Washington Post reported in April.