FILE – In this May 11, 2017 file photo, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Cotton’s office says he’s focused is on serving the people of Arkansas in the Senate. That’s after reports that he might be picked to run the CIA in a major shake-up of President Donald Trump’s national security team. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

The origin of the Wuhan virus has been a hotly debated topic, with initial theories ranging from bats to bio-labs. The truth is, all we really know is that it began in China and I have little desire to speculate beyond that until we get more information.

With that said, Sen. Tom Cotton was asking for answers very early on about the origin, wondering why China was seemingly lying about everything and whether Wuhan hosting China’s largest bio-lab had anything to do with it.

Cotton was roundly savaged for even suggesting we look into what happened.

The press universally condemned him as spreading conspiracy theories by changing his actual claims.

Washington Post: "Tom Cotton keeps repeating a coronavirus conspiracy theory that was already debunked"https://t.co/PPvd0aZ6Ig

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) April 3, 2020

WaPo was hardly alone. Outlets like the New York Times and Daily Beast spread the same false claims. https://t.co/g0RHtbHbBUhttps://t.co/X1Nb21xSbh pic.twitter.com/ufeCnDGyJC

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) April 3, 2020

Other media personalities were quick to join the smears against Cotton, thereby helping China dismiss legitimate questions about the early origin as just conspiracy theories.

All these tweets are still up. No retractions or apologies. pic.twitter.com/LCEQPyIytz

— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) April 3, 2020

The examples keep going in AG’s thread, but I’ll stop there.

Now, the very same molecular biologist who the Post quoted to try to rebut Cotton’s “conspiracy theory” says the Senator’s questions weren’t out of line.

NEW: Richard Ebright, molecular biologist quoted by @washingtonpost to rebut theory that the virus was a bioweapon, tells @AndrewKerrNC COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology https://t.co/crGU2sfEES

— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) April 3, 2020

A molecular biologist who has been quoted as a coronavirus expert by The Washington Post and MSNBC said Thursday in no uncertain terms that the novel coronavirus could have been unleashed due to a leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology…

…But Richard H. Ebright, a professor of chemical biology at Rutgers University, told the Daily Caller News Foundation on Thursday that there is a real possibility that the virus entered the human population due to a laboratory accident.

When asked specifically if he believes the virus could have leaked from Shi’s lab in Wuhan, Ebright said: “Yes.”

“A denial is not a refutation,” Ebright said. “Especially not a denial based on ‘nature punishing the human race for keeping uncivilized living habits.’”

Again, where the virus actually started within China is unknown (at least outside the confines of the communist party), but it was incredibly irresponsible for the mainstream media to rush out and repeat Chinese propaganda, up to and including quoting Chinese officials, just to slap at a Republican for asking for an investigation.

Every actual journalistic outlet in the country should be trying to get to the bottom of how this pandemic started, why it spread so quickly, and why China lied so much. Instead, most of them have spent their time doing the CCP’s bidding because it allows them to snipe at those like Cotton. When you prioritize partisan rancor over facts, that’s how you get the Post’s own source contradicting their narrative a month later. It’s likely Ebright was saying the same thing at the time but that the Post chose to pick and choose what to publish to frame their narrative.

As Cotton has said, when this is all over, there must be a reckoning. China will be the priority there for Congress, but a lot of media outlets will also face public backlash over how they’ve handled this crisis. It’ll be incredibly well deserved.