Close Menu
  • Breaking News
  • Business
  • Personal Finance
  • 2nd Amendment
  • Videos
  • Forum
  • More
    • Prepping & Survival
    • Health
    • Top Stocks
    • Stocks Portfolio

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news and updates directly to your inbox.

Popular Now
Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map Breaking News

Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map

By Dewey LewisAugust 15, 20250

House minority leader Gene Wu said he was waiting for California to unveil its own…

Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on 0K bond

Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on $500K bond

August 15, 2025
House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair

House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair

August 15, 2025
Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

August 15, 2025
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
Trending
  • Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map
  • Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on $500K bond
  • House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair
  • Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report
  • GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting
  • How a summer of strategic pressure set stage for Trump–Putin talks in Alaska
  • Former Washington Post fact-checker admits he ‘screwed up’ on COVID-19 lab leak theory
  • Bondi puts sanctuary cities nationwide on notice after DC police federal takeover
Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram LinkedIn VKontakte
Friday, August 15
Republican Investor
Banner
  • Breaking News
  • Business
  • Personal Finance
  • 2nd Amendment
  • Videos
  • Forum
  • More
    • Prepping & Survival
    • Health
    • Top Stocks
    • Stocks Portfolio
Subscribe
Republican Investor
You are at:Home » Former Washington Post fact-checker admits he ‘screwed up’ on COVID-19 lab leak theory
Breaking News

Former Washington Post fact-checker admits he ‘screwed up’ on COVID-19 lab leak theory

Dewey LewisBy Dewey LewisAugust 15, 2025No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tumblr Reddit WhatsApp
Former Washington Post fact-checker admits he ‘screwed up’ on COVID-19 lab leak theory
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Ex-Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler conceded on Thursday that he was “completely wrong” to label the COVID-19 lab leak theory “doubtful” in 2020. 

In an interview with Kessler, theeditors.com founder Ira Stoll brought up the eroding trust in fact-checkers from conservatives, using the 2020 Washington Post fact check titled “Was the new coronavirus accidentally released from a Wuhan lab? It’s doubtful.” as an example.

Kessler defended the work done on the piece by his Fact Checker video team but blamed himself for the backlash for adding the words “it’s doubtful” to the headline. 

He described being called out by co-author Sarah Cahlan after it was published.

CREDIBILITY CRISIS: MEDIA ‘FACT-CHECKERS’ WERE EAGER TO DEBUNK COVID LAB LEAK THEORY, HAD TO ISSUE CORRECTIONS

“One of the reporters on the piece came up to me the next day and said, ‘I think you made a real mistake by putting ‘it’s doubtful’ here. Because I’m uncertain where it stands, and you framed it in a way that made it seem more definitive than what we came up with,’” Kessler recalled. 

He continued, “That’s on me. I screwed up. She recently left the Washington Post to go to another place. In my goodbye remarks, I mentioned, this explains why you should always listen to Sarah, because she’s right, and I was completely wrong about this.”

Kessler argued that the fact check primarily focused on the claim that the coronavirus was a bioweapon rather than whether the virus came from nature or a lab.

“It’s the headline. The piece itself…” Kessler said.

“People only remember the headline,” Stoll interrupted.

“Like I said, that’s on me,” Kessler replied.

Fox News Digital reached out to The Washington Post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

WASHINGTON POST ISSUES ‘CORRECTION’ ON 2020 TOM COTTON STORY CLAIMING COVID LAB-LEAK THEORY WAS ‘DEBUNKED’

Washington Post building

The original fact-check claimed that scientific evidence at the time “strongly supports” the theory that COVID-19 came from nature and that “too many unexpected coincidences” would have been needed for a lab leak. However, it added that the Chinese government was unwilling and unable to offer more information on the theory.

Though Kessler now says the fact-check mostly focused on bioweapon claims, he wrote on Twitter, now known as X, in 2020 that it was “virtually impossible” for COVID-19 to have come from a lab in a comment to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about the piece.

“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 wrote.

Kessler wrote a new fact-check in 2021 that the lab leak theory “suddenly became credible” after new evidence emerged. Though several members of the first Trump administration expressed support for the theory in 2020, Kessler blamed them for his rejection of their claims.

“The Trump administration also sought to highlight the lab scenario but generally could only point to vague intelligence. The Trump administration’s messaging was often accompanied by anti-Chinese rhetoric that made it easier for skeptics to ignore its claims,” Kessler wrote.

Glenn Kessler

The Washington Post was among the earliest news outlets to reject the lab leak theory outright, calling it a “coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked” in February 2020. 

Read the full article here

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleBondi puts sanctuary cities nationwide on notice after DC police federal takeover
Next Article How a summer of strategic pressure set stage for Trump–Putin talks in Alaska

Related Posts

Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map

Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map

August 15, 2025
Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on 0K bond

Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on $500K bond

August 15, 2025
Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

August 15, 2025
GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting

GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting

August 15, 2025
Bondi puts sanctuary cities nationwide on notice after DC police federal takeover

Bondi puts sanctuary cities nationwide on notice after DC police federal takeover

August 15, 2025
Florida to open ‘Deportation Depot’ at shuttered prison weeks after launching ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility

Florida to open ‘Deportation Depot’ at shuttered prison weeks after launching ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ facility

August 15, 2025
Add A Comment
Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

Follow us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Highlights
Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on 0K bond Breaking News

Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on $500K bond

By Dewey LewisAugust 15, 20250

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! CINCINNATI – After being extradited from Georgia,…

House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair

House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair

August 15, 2025
Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

August 15, 2025
GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting

GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting

August 15, 2025

Subscribe to Updates

Get the latest news and updates directly to your inbox.

About
About

Republican Investor is one of the top news portals to cover business, personal finance and second amendment news, follow us to get the latest news.

We're social, connect with us:

Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram LinkedIn VKontakte
Popular Posts
Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map

Runaway Texas Dems Will Return Home, Paving the Way for Texas To Pass a New Map

August 15, 2025
Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on 0K bond

Cincinnati assault suspect accused of knocking out viral beating victim hauled back on $500K bond

August 15, 2025
House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair

House Republican pushes bill to make it easier for Trump to fire Fed chair

August 15, 2025
Latest News
Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

Tom Cruise turns down Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors invite: report

August 15, 2025
GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting

GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY: Trump’s energy dominance key to national security during Putin meeting

August 15, 2025
How a summer of strategic pressure set stage for Trump–Putin talks in Alaska

How a summer of strategic pressure set stage for Trump–Putin talks in Alaska

August 15, 2025
Copyright © 2025. Republican Investor. All rights reserved.
  • Privacy
  • Terms of use
  • Press Release
  • Advertise
  • Contact

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.