(John Ransom, Headline USA) Former Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, currently a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army Reserve, called on Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, to resign after he said that Gabbard’s claims the US has funded biological facilities in Ukraine were “treasonous”.
“This is about facts and this is about the truth, so while senator Romney and all these different talking heads in the mainstream media are regurgitating Hillary Clinton‘s slanderous talking points, the facts remain,” Gabbard told Fox News.
Gabbard has said about 25-plus biological labs exist in Ukraine, but said she in no way claimed that they were bioweapons labs as Romney insists she said.
“I said no such thing at any point,” said Gabbard, according to the Daily Mail.
Still, that didn’t stop Romney from tweeting out a scorcher at Gabbard.
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives,” he proclaimed.
At issue are Russian claims that the United States has been funding bioweapons research in Ukraine as one justification Russia is using for the invasion, stating the research puts Europe at risk.
“The risk of this is very real given the interests of the radical nationalist groups in Ukraine are showing towards the work with dangerous pathogens conducted together with the ministry of defense of the United States,” said Russian UN spokesman Vasily Nebenzya, according to the UK’s Guardian.
While there’s no doubt that bio facilities do exist in Ukraine, and are partially funded by the United States, they are no different than the biological research done in various countries, and some of the research is done to mitigate threats that were created under the old Soviet Union.
What Gabbard has been saying, via Twitter, is that these biological facilities, which aren’t weapons facilities, if breached could spread dangerous pathogens, thus the need for the US to secure them.
.@MittRomney, you have called me a ‘treasonous liar’ for stating the fact that “there are 25+ US-funded biolabs in Ukraine which if breached would release & spread deadly pathogens to US/world” and therefore must be secured in order to prevent new pandemics. Bizarrely, …
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
The sleight-of-hand that liberals are using here is similar to what they used in the debate about the Wuhan virus.
Each time an opponent mentioned the possibility that the coronavirus could have escaped from the Wuhan lab, liberals would claim that there was no evidence that the COVID-19 virus had been “weaponized” or had been “created in a lab,” or was “man-made,” muddying the argument about where the virus originated.
By inserting the word “weapon” after Gabbard’s “bio,” Romney, Clinton, et al., have done the same thing by changing Gabbard’s meaning to be sympathetic to the Russian narrative, which clearly Gabbard is not.
“Romney should resign,” said Gabbard.
