Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton suggested Sunday that the coronavirus is a biological weapon that was manufactured by the Chinese military.
Cotton claimed on the show, “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News that the Chinese government is “still lying” about the virus that has killed more than 1,600 citizens. More than 68,000 people have been infected.
“The situation is very grave in part because … China was lying from the beginning, and they’re still lying today,” Cotton said. “And also because there are so many unknowns about this virus. For example, how many people one person can infect once they have the virus?”
The senator told host Maria Bartiromo reports that the virus started in a Chinese food market were incorrect. He said the lab was near a market some scientists initially thought was an origination for the virus’ spread.
“This virus did not originate in the Wuhan animal market,” Cotton said. “We don’t know where it originated but we do know that we have to get to the bottom of that.”
Cotton called for a “targeted travel ban” on flights from China to the United States in late January before the Trump administration cracked down on such travel two weeks ago.
I asked a health expert with experience in outbreaks such as the coronavirus about @SenTomCotton‘s remarks today...
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 16, 2020
thread/ https://t.co/cyXTejamnh
