Topic: Bsl 2

Senator Rand Paul questioned Secretary of State Anthony Blinken regarding State Department cables from 2017 and 2018 that warned of unsafe conditions at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The cables reportedly described the facility as operating at a BSL-2 safety level despite handling dangerous viruses. The hosts note that these documents only became public because they were declassified during the Trump administration, fueling further debate over the lab leak theory.

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb argued that the "lab leak" theory remains a plausible scenario that the WHO should not have dismissed. He pointed out that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was conducting experiments on coronaviruses in BSL-2 labs, which have lower security standards than required for such high-risk pathogens. Gottlieb emphasized that until an animal source is identified, the possibility of a laboratory accident must be fully investigated.

The origins of the virus are debated, with theories ranging from a BSL-4 lab leak in Wuhan to the 2019 Military World Games where 12,000 athletes gathered in the city. The hosts discuss the involvement of Harvard professors on Chinese payrolls and the high infection rates in Iran due to direct Chinese contact. They also explore a "booby trap" theory where stolen biological material from the U.S. may have been compromised.