Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is not backing down from her response to Sen. Mitt Romney’s (R-Utah) claim that she is spreading “treasonous lies.”
During an appearance on Fox News, Gabbard told Tucker Carlson, “This is not a matter of disagreement or holding a dissenting view. This is about facts.”
She continued, “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 noted that “they are accusing me of saying that somehow there are bioweapons labs in Ukraine. I’ve said no such thing at any point.”
She added, “I have said that there are biolabs in Ukraine that have received U.S. support that contain dangerous pathogens that if those labs are breached, then we in the world are facing a potential future of pandemics that this is a dangerous crisis that needs to be addressed immediately. These pathogens need to be destroyed.”
Gabbard explained she believes it is “important to recognize that facts exist, especially in this case, and the truth is the first casualty of war.”
The Democrat argued, “And so this is exactly what we are seeing here people have a very specific agenda, refusing to recognize the truth, refusing to have a conversation and instead immediately resorting to their age-old tactic of silence, smear and destroy the character and reputation of anyone who dares to say anything that they don’t like.”
Check out her comments below:
Romney accused Gabbard of telling “treasonous lies” after she posted a video claiming the U.S. was funding bio-labs in Ukraine researching deadly pathogens. Additionally, she raised concerns that violence could cause them to be released, as IJR reported.
Russian and Chinese state media have reportedly spread those allegations. Gabbard fired back at Romney on Twitter, saying, “[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.”
She added, “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.”
PolitiFact reported the U.S. is not funding “biological weapons labs” in Ukraine. It has been working on improving “public health laboratories and prevent the threat of outbreaks of infectious diseases.”
