#Steve Bannon claims scientists from Wuhan virus lab have ‘defected’ to the West

Steve Bannon claims scientists in the Wuhan lab eyed as a potential source for COVID-19 have “defected” and are working with US intelligence agencies.

President Trump’s former chief strategist, a virulent China opponent, told the Daily Mail — while providing no evidence — that researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology are cooperating with the West to build a case that the bug spread from a lab leak.

“They are not talking to the media yet, but there are people out of the Wuhan lab and other labs that have come to the West and are turning over evidence of the culpability of the Chinese Communist Party,” Bannon told the tabloid. “I think people are going to be shocked.”

Bannon, giving the interview from a yacht off America’s East Coast, said the defectors were also speaking with agencies in Europe and the UK.

“People around these labs have been leaving China and Hong Kong since mid-February,” he went on. “[US intelligence] along with MI5 and MI6 are trying to build a very thorough legal case, which may take a long time. It’s not like James Bond.”

Bannon was the center of a ridiculous stunt last month where he and Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese billionaire, flew propeller planes carrying anti-Communist Party messaging.

The media executive went on to disparage the World Health Organization and the Chinese government for their alleged culpability in the crisis. The Chinese government has dismissed claims the virus had stemmed from a lab leak, while the WHO has denied claims from President Trump that it has been China’s “puppet” during the pandemic.

Bannon went on to call on British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to back away from plans to allow the China-based Huawei to work in the UK’s new 5G network.

“To me, Huawei should be shut down throughout the world in every country, and their assets liquidated,” he aside. “I say to Boris Johnson — shut down Huawei, and keep calm and carry on.”