Republican Sen. Mitt Romney slammed former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard on Sunday, accusing the Hawaiian politician of “parroting false Russian propaganda” and suggested that her remarks about the existence of so-called “US biolabs” in Ukraine would result in people being killed.
“Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives,” Romney wrote in a tweet highlighted by The Independent.
The Republican senator accused his ex-House counterpart, who served as a Democrat but has shifted far to the right since leaving office, of spreading “treasonous lies” that amounted to “Russian propaganda”.
Romney’s statement came in reference to a video posted by Gabbard claiming that the United States government is funding “25 to 30” US-funded biolabs that she went on to assert “if breached would release & spread deadly pathogens to US/world”.
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U.S. officials also slammed Gabbard’s narrative, saying that it plays into the hands of the Russian government that is spreading false claims about supposed US-supported manufacturing of bioweapons in Ukraine, a claim US officials say could be pretext to the deployment of chemical or biological weapons by Russia’s military in its bloody onslaught through Ukrainian territory.
To be clear, there are a handful of Ukrainian-run biological threat analysis and defense labs in Ukraine, but there’s no evidence to suggest that they are working on biological weapons as far-right commentators and the Russian government have claimed. It’s also not a certainty that the labs would release dangerous pathogens if damaged in the ongoing conflict, as experts have worked to destroy any dangerous substances on site.
As noted by The Independent, “the US and Ukrainian governments have both denied the existence of bioweapons facilities in Ukraine.”
President Joe Biden said last week that Russia pay a “steep price” if chemical or biological weapons were used in Ukraine, but did not define what specific punishment Moscow would face.
Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.
— Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) March 13, 2022
