Exactly - the problem isn't the consideration of a lab leak as a possible source, it's the presentation of that theory embellished well beyond what's plausible without any evidence - and then suggesting it's not just a far out there possibility, but actually the most likely source. And all that when it was a convenient diversionary tactic - looking for a scapegoat.

Let's not forget that not only is the lab leak theory to this day just one possibility, it's still not backed by much evidence, whereas many other viruses have jumped species before without needing a lab.

Finally, even in the unlikely event it turns out to have leaked from the lab and we manage to get convincing evidence of that now, that doesn't actually make those claims last year any more defensible. It's not OK to spout wild claims without evidence - even though if you do so often enough, you'll get lucky sometimes. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, but that does not mean breaking clocks is a valid strategy for telling the time.

And unless I'm missing something, it's just not plausible that fox news or mike pompeo or whoever had some secret evidence - if they had it, they would have shared it, somebody would have leaked it, or at the very least other corroborating sources would have appeared. None of that happened: ergo they were lying at least by exaggeration - and that's assuming they even believed the story to be at least plausible.