The Floridian recently spoke with Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on how the United States should respond to China, knowing that the coronavirus came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Rep. Gaetz said that not only does he feel "vindicated" after media attempts to silence his review of the intelligence, but China could be made to pay reparations for the devastation COVID inflicted on the U.S. Should they refuse, he called for sanctions and the seizure of Chinese assets on American soil.
When President Trump labeled COVID as "the China Virus," Rep. Gaetz followed, "by the intelligence [he] reviewed."
"I feel vindicated by the intelligence I've reviewed regarding the Wuhan Institute of Virology. But I had been saying this all along. I said quite early that based on my review of 2018 cables from the State Department, the EcoHealth Alliance was engaged in gain-of-function research that looked a lot like what we saw manifest in Wuhan in the form of the coronavirus. When I said this, President Trump immediately stopped taxpayer money from going to the Wuhan Institute of Virology," said Gaetz.
Because of this, Rep. Gaetz says he "was smeared in the mainstream media" as having "'politicized science.'"
"I was smeared in the mainstream media. 60 Minutes did a big special about how I had 'politicized science,' and that I was 'blocking cures,' and the 'great heroes' of the Wuhan Institute of Virology would be the ones to save us all. And now we know, those smears were bullsh*t. I was saying the truth all along about where the coronavirus came from," Gaetz continued.
Thus, this knowledge confirmed, he asked, "what do we do about it?" As mentioned, he believed in demanding reparations.
"And the question now is, what are we going to do about it? And I think we need to demand reparations from China based on the economic harm they caused, and on the mental health harm they caused, and of course, the loss of life that we tragically experienced," described Gaetz.
As such, this prompts the question of what if China does not pay or seeks to evade sanctions placed by the U.S.
Gaetz answers that China has "substantial assets" the United States can seize.
"China has substantial assets in the United States of America. Matter of fact, they've been on quite the trend of accumulating those assets, whether it's infrastructure, whether it's farmland, whether it's penthouses in Miami Beach and Manhattan. And if China is unwilling to pay reparations for the coronavirus, we should be willing to seize their assets in order to fulfill that objective," Gaetz concludes.
