Tulsi Gabbard skewers Romney over Ukraine biolabs, demands his resignation
Former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard shot back at Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today after Romney’s harsh remarks.
In a video posted to social media on Sunday, Gabbard said that there are 35-40 U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine and warned that there could be potentially dangerous fallout if those labs were targeted amid the Russia-Ukraine war.
Gabbard was immediately denounced by the mainstream media as being a “conspiracy theorist” and “Russian asset” for suggesting that the United States government is connected to bio research labs in Ukraine.
Romney piled on the criticism with his own denigrating tweet.
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda,” wrote the senator. “Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.”
Gabbard responded to Romney with a series of tweets listing six sources in support of her claim that there are U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine.
But first, she countered Romney’s accusation that her claim would “cost lives".
“Bizarrely, you claim that securing these labs (or even calling for securing these labs) is treasonous and will lead to a loss of life, when the exact opposite is obviously true,” Gabbard wrote. “The spread of pathogens is what will cause the loss of life, not the prevention of such spread.”
Then, the U.S. Army Reserve officer called for Romney’s resignation.
“Senator Romney, please provide evidence that what I said is untrue and treasonous. If you cannot, you should do the honorable thing: apologize and resign from the Senate.”
Gabbard continued by establishing that there are indeed biolabs in Ukraine in which there are dangerous pathogens.
To do this, she cited testimony by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland to the U.S. Senate on March 8, 2022:
“Ukraine has biological research facilities which, in fact we are quite concerned that Russian troops may be seeking to gain control of,” Nuland said. “We are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces should they approach.”
Then Gabbard cited a Pentagon fact sheet “directly & indirectly confirming the existence of such biolabs". She cited an excerpt from the fact sheet:
“The United States, through BTRP, has invested approximately $200 million in Ukraine since 2005, supporting 46 Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and diagnostic sites.”
As her third point, Gabbard quoted CBS News Correspondent David Martin on March 13th, who said that according to a Pentagon official, the U.S. is involved with Ukraine biolabs.
“The concern is that the Russians will seize one of these biomedical research facilities that Ukraine has where they do research on deadly pathogens like botulism and anthrax, seize one of those facilities, weaponize the pathogen, and then blame it on Ukraine and the US, because the US has been providing support for some of the research being done in those facilities," Martin said in the name of the official.
In point four, Gabbard linked to a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine which “acknowledged there are U.S. funded labs in Ukraine working with pathogens for vaccine & other peaceful purposes.”
Then, Gabbard claimed that none other than CNN said there are U.S.-funded biolabs.
“#5. CNN fact-check (March 10, 2022): ‘There are US-funded biolabs in Ukraine, that much is true,’" Gabbard wrote.
Lastly, she quoted from the Department of Defense that Russia had seized two Ukrainian biolabs.
“Russia illegally took possession of two Ukrainian-owned laboratories that BTRP upgraded in 2014 and continues to deny Ukrainian access to these facilities,” said the DoD.
For her grand finale, Gabbard once again demanded Romney’s resignation.
“So, Senator Romney, you have a choice: out of pride, continue to deny the truth or admit you are wrong, apologize, and resign. Aloha. And remember that without the truth, we can be neither safe nor free.”
