{ "error": "", "type": "text", "title": "Secretary Pompeo With Ben Shapiro of the Ben Shapiro Show - China", "slug": "secretary-pompeo-with-ben-shapiro-of-the-ben-shapiro-show-china-1", "text": "
\"QUESTION:<\/strong> Hanging in there. So Secretary Pompeo, obviously you\u2019ve been in the center of the news for suggesting that maybe, just maybe, this didn\u2019t all start with a person eating a bat; that perhaps the Wuhan virus, a virus that began in Wuhan, actually may have started in a Chinese lab. Now, we\u2019ve seen a lot of speculation about this, especially because apparently the bat species from which this virus originated was not native to the Wuhan region. So what is the argument that this thing either did or did not start in a lab, and what is the position of the administration on the origins of the virus?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Well, Ben, the administration\u2019s really clear: We need the answer to that. We need the Chinese Communist Party to share with the American people the data set, the access we need, a sample of the virus \u2013 all the basic things that normal nations do and they\u2019ve refuse to do.<\/p>\n As for the facts, I\u2019ve seen a significant amount of evidence that suggests that the lab was underperforming, that there were security risks at the lab, and that the virus could well have emanated from there. But I\u2019m happy to suspend the decision about that. What we need are answers. There are still people dying. We\u2019ve got an economy now that is really struggling, and it\u2019s all a direct result of the Chinese Communist Party covering up, hiding information, having doctors who wanted to tell the story about where this began, how patient zero was formed and how it emanated from that person, and yet we can\u2019t get those answers. Even now, 120-plus days on from the Chinese Communist Party knowing about this virus, they continue to hide and obfuscate the data from the American people and from the world\u2019s best scientists.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Secretary Pompeo, frankly I\u2019m astonished at the number of Democrats, members of the media who seem to be echoing talking points from the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to this particular issue, suggesting that the real problem here is that the United States is being too tough on China, the Trump administration is asking too many questions of China, that really we need to be working with China. As you say, if China had been working with us from the start, then this may never have escaped China in the first place.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Well, I must say I\u2019ve been in Washington now for 10 years, Ben, and I am difficult to surprise with respect to partisanship. Just \u2013 I\u2019ve seen it. It\u2019s unfortunate. This isn\u2019t remotely a political issue. This is an enormous national security issue and an economic issue, and my friends back in Kansas, people all across America are really hurting. They want to go back to work, they want to go back to their churches, and the Chinese Communist Party is preventing information from flowing that would increase the chance we could do that better and more safely.<\/p>\n And so when I see whether it\u2019s the left wing media or Democrats saying, \u201cWell gosh, if you all would just cooperate with the World Health Organization,\u201d I am astounded. They failed us. It\u2019s not the first time the WHO has failed the world in the time of a pandemic. You can\u2019t go back to business as usual; we\u2019ve got to fix it. America will lead. We\u2019ll get it right.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> So when it comes to the Chinese Government trying to obstruct investigation, there\u2019s been talk about them basically leveraging threats against a variety of countries who are even asking for an investigation. What is the status of the Chinese Government attempting to stymie any sort of investigation into what happened here?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Yeah, it\u2019s pretty astounding, Ben. Whether it was the Australians who simply said, \u201cBoy, we need an investigation,\u201d the ambassador there \u2013 the Chinese ambassador there to Australia said, \u201cWell, we\u2019re going to threaten you economically.\u201d We\u2019ve seen the do \u2013 same thing do to the EU when they were about to put out a statement, began to put economic pressure on them. This is the worst of Chinese adventurism. We\u2019ve seen this. We\u2019ve seen the Chinese Communist Party do this before, threaten small countries, use economic power to exert their influence. It\u2019s not how nations that want to truly be transparent, truly be part of the international system \u2013 it\u2019s not how they behave. I regret that they\u2019ve done it because we still have an ongoing crisis. We still don\u2019t know where this virus began other than to say we know it came out of Wuhan.\"<\/p>",
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