WaPo sues State Department for access to diplomatic cables regarding coronavirus

The Washington Post sued the State Department Friday night after the federal agency allegedly denied timely processing of the paper’s request to see diplomatic correspondence regarding safety issues at a coronavirus research lab in the city of Wuhan, China. 

The complaint was filed with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and allegedly revolves around two cables that the Post says U.S. diplomats at the American Embassy in Beijing sent to the department after U.S. scientists had made multiple visits to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The institute reportedly conducted studies on strains of coronavirus that originated from bats, the same kind of strain that is believed to have caused the global pandemic.

On April 14, Post columnist Josh Rogin reported on the existence of the cables that written and sent in 2018, roughly two years before the outbreak in Wuhan began. The cables were labeled sensitive, but unclassified.

The paper allegedly asked for the transmission of the cables via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on April 3. The news source allegedly requested expedited processing, something that publications often ask for when reporting on time sensitive matters.

On April 12, Nicholas Cormier, the State Department’s chief of requester communications, allegedly denied the Post’s request for expedited processing in an emailed letter, reportedly saying that there was no “compelling need” to provide the cables quickly. The Post’s request was instead reportedly put on the routine FOIA request track.