Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) accused former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) of promulgating “Russian propaganda” about biolabs in Ukraine.
On Sunday, Gabbard released a video on Twitter where she alleged that the U.S. was funding bio-labs in Ukraine that are researching deadly pathogens and raised concerns that violence in the country could lead to their release.
Those allegations have reportedly been spread by Russian and Chinese state media.
Romney ripped into the former Congresswoman for sharing the claims tweeting, “Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.”
Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 13, 2022
His tweet did not go over well with Gabbard, who pushed back on Twitter as she wrote, “[Romney], 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 pandemic.”
“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. The spread of pathogens is what will cause the loss of life, not the prevention of such spread,” she continued.
… 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. The spread of pathogens is what will cause the loss of life, not the prevention of such spread.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
Gabbard challenged Romney to provide evidence “what I said is untrue and treasonous.” She then proceeded to share quotes from U.S. officials acknowledging the presence of biolabs in Ukraine, and a quote from a CNN article.
The CNN article stated, “There are US-funded biolabs in Ukraine, that much is true. But they are not building bioweapons. Actually, it’s the opposite: Part of the reason for their creation was to secure old Soviet weapons left behind in the former Soviet republics.”
“The State Department has described the claims as nonsense — and the US and Ukrainian governments have repeatedly, and for years now, tried to bat down conspiracy theories about the labs and spoken about the work that is actually being done in them,” the article added.
Finally, Gabbard wrote, “So, Senator Romney, you have a choice: out of pride, continue to deny the truth or admit you are wrong, apologize, and resign.”
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.
— Tulsi Gabbard ? (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
“Aloha. And remember that without the truth, we can be neither safe nor free,” she added.
According to PolitiFact, the U.S. is not funding ” biological weapons labs” in Ukraine. Instead, it has been working to “improve public health laboratories and prevent the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases.”
