Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin debunks Russian conspiracy pushed by Tucker Carlson

On Hannity Wednesday, Fox News National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin appeared where she addressed recent Russian propaganda. Russia has recently claimed that the U.S. is running secret bioweapon labs in Ukraine.

“In terms of Ukraine’s biolabs, which have come under scrutiny tonight,” Griffin said, “those are Soviet-era bio-labs that the U.S. has been engaged [with] since 2005 in trying to help Ukraine convert the research facilities safely.”

Griffin spoke of the concern among some U.S. officials that Russia is doing this now as a pretext to their own use of these types of weapons as their invasion of Ukraine continues.

“White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Moscow’s talk today about these biolabs has led to concern by U.S. intelligence,” Griffin said, “that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine to create a false flag operation using them.”

Griffin’s reporting on the matter differed greatly from what opinion host Tucker Carlson said on his show an hour earlier. Carlson, who has been accused on multiple occasions of pushing Russian propaganda, used the admission by Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland that there are biological research labs in Ukraine as a reason to push the same narrative as Russia.

“Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe,” Carlson said. “It’s hardly a hotbed of biomedical research. We’re assuming these weren’t pharmaceutical labs. Probably not developing new leukemia drugs. From your answer, Victoria Nuland, we would assume, because you all but said it, there’s a military application of this research. They’re working on bioweapons.”

But Griffin said that the knowledge of these labs is neither secret nor new.

“It is a long program that has existed, where the Pentagon has partnered with these biolabs,” Griffin said, adding, “The U.S. has been very open about its involvement there with that. But what Russia does is they take that information, distort it, turn it around and turn it into disinformation.”

Video Transcript

JENNIFER GRIFFIN: In terms of Ukraine's bio labs which have come under scrutiny tonight, those are Soviet-era biolabs that the US has been engaged since 2005 in trying to help Ukraine convert the research facilities safely.

KYLIE MAR: Jennifer Griffin, a national security correspondent at Fox News, appeared on "Hannity" Wednesday, where she addressed recent Russian propaganda claiming that the US has secret bioweapons labs in Ukraine. US officials fear that Russia is making this claim as a pretext to their own use of these types of weapons as their invasion of Ukraine continues.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN: White House press Secretary Jen Psaki said Moscow's talk today about these biolabs has led to concern by US intelligence that Russia could use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine to create a false flag operation using them.

KYLIE MAR: Griffin's reporting of the Russian claims stood in sharp contrast to what opinion host Tucker Carlson said on his show an hour earlier. Carlson, who has been accused of pushing Russian propaganda on multiple occasions, not only played a clip of a Russian official making the claim but baselessly propagated the Russian message.

TUCKER CARLSON: Ukraine is the poorest country in Europe. It's hardly a hotbed of biomedical research. We're assuming these weren't pharmaceutical labs. Probably not developing new leukemia drugs. From your answer, Toria Nuland, we would assume because you all but said it that there is a military application to this research, that they were working on bioweapons.

KYLIE MAR: And Griffin pointed out that US involvement with these labs is neither new nor secret.

JENNIFER GRIFFIN: It is a long program that has existed where the Pentagon has partnered with these-- these biolabs. The US has been very open about its involvement there with that. But what Russia does is they take that information, distort it, turn it around, and turn it into disinformation.