Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, harshly condemned former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, for comments she made in recent days about U.S. biological laboratories in Ukraine, Business Insider reported Monday.
"Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda," Romney tweeted. "Her treasonous lies may well cost lives."
Russia has spread a baseless claim the U.S. is funding the development of bioweapons in labs in Ukraine, a move which the U.S. warned could indicate that Moscow is planning to use chemical weapons against Ukraine, according to Business Insider.
In response to Romney's comments, Gabbard on Monday wrote on Twitter: "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, 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."
Gabbard took another swipe at Romney, requesting he "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."
The Daily Beast reported Russia's government-controlled media outlets are showing clips of Gabbard on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" to defend the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In the clips, Carlson suggests "Russian disinformation" is "true" and Gabbard talks about biological and chemical weapons that might be in Ukraine.
According to a fact check by The New York Times, there are biological labs in Ukraine that are backed by the U.S. in an attempt to prevent bioweapons from being made or used.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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