By Hanna Park
(WASHINGTON) Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday asserted vindication for his claim that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, and defended using the term ‘Chinese virus,’ which has been attributed in part to the surge in hate crimes against Asian Americans across the U.S.
“Now everybody is agreeing that I was right when I very early on called Wuhan as the source of COVID-19, sometimes referred to as the China Virus," Trump announced on his website platform "From The Desk Of Donald Trump."
"To me it was obvious from the beginning but I was badly criticized, as usual. Now they are all saying 'He was right.' Thank you!" Trump added.
A Wall Street Journal report published Sunday revealed that three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill and sought treatment for flu-like symptoms in November 2019, fueling concerns that the coronavirus may have originated in a lab leak rather than from an animal.
While the White House called on an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus on Monday, officials still do not have enough information to draw conclusions.
From April to May 2020, Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were some of the first people to indicate a lab leak as the origins of COVID-19. But neither of them cited any evidence, The Hill reports.
The World Health Organization last February urged people to avoid terms like the “Wuhan virus” or the “Chinese virus,” fearing it could prompt a backlash against Asians. But Trump had aggressively doubled down on anti-Chinese rhetoric since the pandemic first began.
Last week, Trump was sued by a civil rights group for calling COVID-19 the “China virus.”
Multiple studies have shown that the phrase “China virus” coincided with a surge in attacks and harassment against Asian Americans within the last year.
Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center that tracks hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders said in a report published in March that it has received nearly 3,800 firsthand accounts of anti-Asian hate crimes from March 2020 to February 2021.
The plaintiff is asking for $1 for every Asian American in the U.S., which would total $22.9 million.