By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-10-02 20:01:18 | Updated at 2024-10-04 11:22:38
1 day ago
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is coming under fire for supporting a U.S. research institute with connections to China.
The University of Minnesota's Hormel Institute has published research and worked with scientists from China's infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the same lab the FBI concluded was likely the birthplace of COVID.
The WIV was also host to numerous experiments by the Chinese military's People's Liberation Army (PLA), including some grisly ones on animals.
And Walz, who has spoken highly of China and has taken dozens of trips there including his honeymoon, has worked to secure at least $7 million in funding for Hormel Institute.
It comes as the scrutiny on Walz's connections to China have taken center stage, including during the VP debate Tuesday night where he called himself a 'knucklehead' for 'misspeaking' about his past travels to the communist country.
Now, a worried Republican is demanding the Institute, which 'reflects a troubling disregard for national security concerns' turnover information regarding Walz's 'steadfast' support.
Virologist Shi Zheng-li - nicknamed the 'Bat Lady' - is pictured here in the Wuhan Institute of Virology lab. She hunted down dozens of deadly COVID-like viruses in bat caves and studied them at the WIV
'I write to you today with growing concern regarding the Hormel Institute’s longstanding partnership with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV),' Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to the research group's leader David Clarke exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com.
'It is critical to understand the full extent of your institute’s involvement in a partnership that risks benefitting our nation’s chief geopolitical adversary,' the letter adds.
Writing to Clarke, Cruz points out numerous instances where Hormel and WIV collaborated on projects.
One paper the two collaborated on was regarding COVID, Cruz notes, while another was on human genes.
'Your institute’s ongoing partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and by extension the People’s Liberation Army, reflects a troubling disregard for national security concerns,' Cruz wrote.
Tim Walz in an undated photo from the Mankato West High School Alumni for Walz Facebook Group. The Democrat has taken dozens of trips to China and used to operate a business where he took U.S. students on educational visits there
Walz pictured in a bus while seemingly on a trip in China
The exterior of the Hormel Institute in Austin, Minnesota. The medical research firm is a part of the University of Minnesota and its faculty have worked closely with researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
'The devastating impact of COVID - 19 has highlighted the seriousness of these issues, as the pandemic has severely affected lives and economies worldwide.'
'The American people deserve assurance that their resources and institutions are not inadvertently supporting the goals of our chief geopolitical adversary.'
Cruz then asks the Hormel director to turn over a wide ranging swath of material.
He requested communications between Hormel and WIV, documents explaining how much funding the Minnesota research group has given to the Wuhan lab and assurances that Hormel is protecting its findings from falling into the wrong hands.
The Energy Department has reversed its position and concluded based on new intelligence that the Covid-19 virus most likely leaked from a Chinese research lab. Pictured is the Wuhan Institute of Virology in February 2021
It is the latest development in a series of coverage looking into Walz's ties to the communist-run nation.
During Tuesday's vice presidential debate between Walz and Republican nominee J.D. Vance, a question about the Democrat's past claims regarding a trip to China arose.
'I was in Hong Kong on June 4, 1989, when, of course, Tiananmen Square happened,' Walz said in a June 2019 radio interview uncovered by CNN on Tuesday.
Walz repeated his statement that he was in Hong Kong during the protests during a congressional hearing in 2009.
'Twenty years ago today, I was in Hong Kong preparing to go to Foshan to teach at Foshan No. 1 Middle School,' he said on June 4, 2009.
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz reportedly misstated his claim that he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests
However reports indicate that Walz did not arrive to China until August of that year, meaning he could not have been in Hong Kong when the massacre occurred.
On Tuesday night he cleaned up his past remarks, saying he 'misspoke' and that he can be a 'knucklehead at times.'
Walz was pressed on the Tiananmen Square story again on Wednesday while traveling for his campaign.
'I had my dates wrong. I was in Hong Kong and China in 1989,' he told reporters.
'I need to be clearer,' he continued, adding 'I understand China helluva better than Trump.'
