GOP Sen. Mitt Romney still has his moments, but it seems like those moments are becoming a bit less frequent lately. He still deserves an apology from Joe Biden and the Democratic Party for being right about Russia back in 2012, because he absolutely was. But over the weekend, he made a statement for which he should be the one doing the apologizing.
Yesterday, he accused former Hawaii Democratic congresswoman and military veteran Tulsi Gabbard of “parroting false Russian propaganda” and declared that “her treasonous lies may very well cost lives.”
Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 13, 2022
As we pointed out in our post about it, the Russian government apparently appreciates Gabbard’s comments about U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine and has in fact been airing her interview on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show on Russian state TV. But even taking that into consideration, Romney’s tweet goes way too far.
And, needless to say, Gabbard herself is quite angry about it. So this morning, she took to Twitter to take Mitt Romney to task over it:
.@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
… 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
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.
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
As Jerry Seinfeld might say, when you throw out a word like “treasonous,” that’s a pretty big matzoh ball hanging out there.
It’s actually a huge matzoh ball, and if Romney’s gonna dish it out, he’d better be fully prepared to back it up. Otherwise, he’s the one who looks bad in this situation.
Evidence of the existence of such biolabs, their vulnerability, and thus the need to take immediate action to secure them is beyond dispute:
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
#1. State Department’s Victoria Nuland acknowledged such labs containing dangerous pathogens exist in Ukraine in her testimony to the US Senate (March 8, 2022): “Ukraine has biological research facilities which, in fact we are quite concerned that Russian troops may be seeking…
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
…to gain control of. 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.”
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
#2. Pentagon Fact sheet (March 11, 2022) has numerous statements directly & indirectly confirming the existence of such biolabs. https://t.co/63DIGQSm9c
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
“The United States, through BTRP, has invested approximately $200 million in Ukraine since 2005, supporting 46 Ukrainian laboratories, health facilities, and diagnostic sites.”
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
#3. CBS Face the Nation (March 13, 2022) correspondent David Martin said a Pentagon official told him they’re concerned about the existence of such biolabs in Ukraine: “The concern is that the Russians will seize one of these biomedical research facilities that Ukraine has…
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
…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.”
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
#4. In April 2020, in refuting Russia’s accusation that U.S. is using biolabs in Ukraine to develop biological weapons, U.S. Embassy in Ukraine acknowledged there are U.S. funded labs in Ukraine working with pathogens for vaccine & other peaceful purposes https://t.co/oIPROY43l6
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
#5. CNN fact-check (March 10, 2022): “There are US-funded biolabs in Ukraine, that much is true.”
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
#6. Furthermore, according to the DoD there are two biolabs in Ukraine that have been under Russian control for some time: “Russia illegally took possession of two Ukrainian-owned laboratories that BTRP upgraded in 2014 and continues to deny Ukrainian access to these facilities.”
— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) March 14, 2022
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
Over to you, Mitt Romney. The matzoh ball’s in your court.
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