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The mainstream media spent about five minutes being neutral reporters on the “Trump tested positive” story last night before quickly pivoting into conspiracy theory territory, wondering who knew what and when, and if Trump deliberately withheld the information from people with whom he’d been in contact in recent days, including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

One conspiracy theory gaining steam in media circles today is that White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany “knew” about Trump senior advisor Hope Hicks’s positive COVID diagnosis before the Thursday press briefing but opted not to tell anyone, and in the process put lives at risk.

ABC News reporter and former White House Correspondents’ Association president Jon Karl was among the many to float the idea that McEnany knew:

We now know Hicks had symptoms on Wednesday night and tested positive yesterday morning. We also know she she had been with @PressSec.

My question for @PressSec: What did you know, when went into a room full of reporters for your briefing yesterday at 11:20am?

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) October 2, 2020

Andrew Feinberg, who is the White House reporter for The Independent, outright accused McEnany of knowing in a now-deleted tweet:

Hey @AndrewFeinberg you dropped this. pic.twitter.com/ZVpdbLQWvw

— brandon gregory (@brandongregory1) October 2, 2020

CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter also alleged McEnany knew, saying in an interview this morning that “it was a mistake for Kayleigh McEnany to hold a briefing yesterday when this was all going on, and keeping people in the dark.”

Stelter went on to suggest there was a “murkiness” to the situation. “If this news had not leaked [from another news outlet] would we even know right now? There’s a lot of murkiness about that.”

The only problem (and it was a big one) with Stelter’s allegation against McEnany is that it wasn’t true – which we know thanks to another reporter at his own network:

CNN's @brianstelter says it was a mistake for @PressSec to hold a briefing Thursday and keep people in the dark regarding Hope Hicks' COVID test results.

However, CNN's @kaitlancollins reported @PressSec "was not aware that Hicks had tested positive when she briefed Thursday." pic.twitter.com/leMlEcJHmQ

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) October 2, 2020

A senior administration official says Kayleigh McEnany was not aware that Hicks had tested positive when she briefed Thursday.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) October 2, 2020

Karl, who like Collins is a mask-shaming hypocrite, also later followed up with this report:

Three officials in the White House press office, on background, tell me @PressSec did not know Hicks had tested positive until after her briefing yesterday. I have asked them to put that on the record. https://t.co/6sPXV6gHSg

— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) October 2, 2020

All of which begs the question: Why is a supposed media expert like Stelter, who you’d think would know the rules about how to report unconfirmed allegations, claiming without evidence that McEnany knew?

.@brianstelter claims, without evidence, that @presssec knew about Hope Hicks' positive test BEFORE the Thursday press briefing. This is not journalism. It's hypocrisy because he'd go off the deep end of Fox News did something like what he did here. https://t.co/c2rpIQNnH7

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) October 2, 2020

Just flat out lazy, irresponsible, biased “reporting”, but then again, that’s nothing new from that crew.

Back in July, CNN anchor Brianna Keilar melted down after Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh used CNN’s previous reporting on hydroxychloroquine to debunk claims she was making about the drug.

And just this week, the Trump campaign used Jake Tapper’s previous reporting against him after a contentious segment with Murtaugh where Tapper pretended Trump had never condemned white supremacists.

Related/Flashback –>> Kayleigh McEnany Roasts Media With Their Own Words After Question About Masks at Trump’s NC Rally