God Sent Coronavirus to Destroy LGBTQ People, Says Trump-OK'd Preacher

The deadly new type of coronavirus that originated in China is a plague sent by God to wipe out LGBTQ people and other sinners, says an extremist preacher whose outlet -- shock! -- holds White House press credentials.

"My spirit bears witness that this is a genuine plague that is coming upon the earth, and God is about to purge a lot of sin off this planet," Florida minister and TruNews founder Rick Wiles said on his program Monday. He said the "plague" has been visited on China because of its "godless communist government" and that the U.S. is not much better.

"Look at the spiritual rebellion that is in this country, the hatred of God, the hatred of the Bible, the hatred of righteousness," Wiles said in a clip captured by Right Wing Watch. "Just vile, disgusting people in this country now, transgendering little children, perverting them. Look at the rapes and the sexual immorality and the filth on our TVs and our movies."

He said such plagues are part of the "end times," a period of tribulations that will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ. The way to be saved from a plague and have the "death angel" pass you by is to repent of your sins and accept Christ as your savior, Wiles said.

Wiles made a similar prediction about the Ebola virus in 2014. "Now this Ebola epidemic can become a global pandemic, and that's another name for plague," he said then. "It may be the great attitude adjustment that I believe is coming. Ebola could solve America's problems with atheism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, pornography, and abortion."

The preacher, who is also known for virulently anti-Semitic views and for blaming natural disasters on LGBTQ people, was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, courtesy of the White House. Five TruNews employees received press credentials to cover the forum, where Donald Trump and various members of his administration were present.

"We want to thank President Trump and the White House for extending the invitation to be here," Wiles said in a video from Davos. "We are honored to be here, representing the kingdom of heaven and our king Jesus Christ." He said TruNews had received an email that the event was coming up, applied for press credentials, and was accepted.

TruNews had no special access to the president, only the same access afforded other outlets, The New York Times reports. Its personnel asked questions of administration members in news conferences, as they had in the past. But the fact that it had credentials at all shocked many political observers, as Wiles had recently denounced the impeachment of Trump as a "Jew coup." Jews are "deceivers," he said in November, and "they plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda. He added, "When Jews take over a country, they kill millions of Christians."

Credentialing TruNews is "a validation of their work," Kyle Mantyla, a senior fellow at progressive watchdog group People for the American Way, which runs Right Wing Watch, told the Times. TruNews "sees it as the White House being on their side," he said.

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, said his group has asked the Trump administration why TruNews received credentials for Davos but has not received an on-record response. "It's puzzling that a known hate group would get press credentials from the same White House that revoked the credentials of a correspondent for a major television network," he told the Times. In 2018, CNN reporter Jim Acosta's credentials were revoked and were restored only due to a lawsuit.