Following the discovery of a secret, illegal Chinese bio lab in California, I requested an investigation by the House. Yesterday, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party released its highly disturbing report:
- The Fugitive: The lab was run by Jiabei “Jesse” Zhu, an international fugitive from China. After running various Chinese companies, he moved to Canada and set up dozens of corporations to steal American intellectual property; the Supreme Court of British Columbia found he committed “fraud on an epic scale,” resulting in a $330 million judgment. He then fled to America, assumed the alias “David He,” and set up several more companies, including the one behind the bio lab.
- The Lab: A year ago, a code inspector came upon a suspicious warehouse in Reedley, CA. Inside, she found Chinese nationals “wearing white lab coats, glasses, masks, and latex gloves” along with 1,000 mice “genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus.” A further inspection found thousands of vials of “suspected biological material” – some labeled with names of infectious agents, others labeled in a “code” that was never deciphered. (Photos of the lab here)
- The CDC: At first, the CDC refused to investigate, and even hung-up on local officials who asked for help. When it finally did an inspection, it found “at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including HIV, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.” Yet the CDC didn’t bother to test any samples, which the report calls “baffling.” Later, local officials discovered a refrigerator in the lab labeled “Ebola.”
- The Purpose: While the supposed purpose of the lab was to manufacture COVID test kits, in reality the company simply re-sold counterfeit kits from China. This raises questions as to the lab’s true purpose – especially given that Jesse Zhu, its criminal operator, was receiving large “unexplained” wire transfers from China. The report further notes that “no one knows whether there are other unknown biolabs.”
Newsom was completely AWOL after the lab’s discovery and has had no comment on the report. Perhaps that’s because he gave Zhu’s company $360,000 to come to California, or because he’s been busy visiting President Xi in China and now welcoming him to San Francisco.
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