During the interview, Mikovitz told Bolling that Fauci had “manufactured” and shipped coronavirus for the past decade to Wuhan, China, which became the original epicenter of the current outbreak. Bolling noted that this was a “considerable claim,” but did not significantly challenge Mikovits and allow him to continue presenting his case.
Klayman, who did not respond to a request for comment, also pushed conspiracy theories about the coronavirus. He said the “origins” of the virus were in the United States. Bolling also did not significantly challenge Klayman.
In the segment that immediately followed, Bolling spoke with Dr. Nicole Saphier, a Fox News medical associate, to get her response to Mikovits and Klayman’s claims.
President Trump’s allies in the right-wing media have tried to discredit Fauci in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Trump administration officials even went so far as to publicly attack Fauci.
But Bolling, a former Fox News presenter, told CNN Business in a series of text messages that he invited Mikovits to his show to “question and challenge his beliefs.” Bolling also said that he does not control the on-screen graphics that appear during his show.
“I challenged her,” Bolling said, noting that he called her claim “strong.”
When asked whether calling a “strong” claim was indeed a challenge to the conspiracy theory that Mikovits pushed for, Bolling said he did believe he had challenged it.
Bolling told CNN Business that he was unaware of the viral “Plandemic” video Mikovits appeared in earlier this year, saying Saphier “was not originally booked on the show” and added it to “provide a point from the opposite view. “
“I don’t know of any video I was in before or after I appeared on my show. Frankly, I was surprised when he made the accusation,” Bolling said. “I asked our producers to add Saphier to the show for the express purpose of discrediting the conspiracy theory. I think viewers see that I did not support his theory.”
When asked if he really didn’t know that Mikovits had appeared in a viral video earlier this year with misinformation about the coronavirus, Bolling said yes.
“I give you my word … this is the first time I’ve heard about the video,” Bolling said. “And the first time I heard about Dr. Mikovitz was on the morning of the recording.”
But when asked if, now that he was aware of the video, he had doubts about broadcasting the segment with Mikovits, Bolling replied, “I don’t think my producers and reservations.”
Bolling added, however, that “he certainly did not support his theory.”
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