FBI Arrests Chinese National Accused Of Stealing COVID-19 Research
A 33-year-old Chinese national was apprehended in Italy at the behest of U.S. authorities, who have accused him of allegedly hacking into American COVID-19 research on behalf of the Chinese government, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Xu Zewei’s arrest occurs amidst ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing regarding the origins of COVID-19, which first appeared in China in late 2019 before spreading globally, resulting in millions of deaths and significant economic disruption, as reported by Newsweek.
“The announcement of charges against Xu is the latest in a series that detail the PRC’s utilization of a vast network of private companies and contractors in China to hack and appropriate information in a manner that concealed the involvement of the PRC government,” the DOJ stated in a release on Tuesday.
As per the DOJ, Xu is charged with hacking U.S. universities, along with immunologists and virologists engaged in research related to COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and testing.
Xu and his purported co-conspirator, Zhang Yu, were detained in Italy on July 3 and have been indicted in a nine-count indictment that was unsealed in the Southern District of Texas, according to the DOJ.
The statement claims that Xu executed the hacking under the direction of the MSS Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB), with the cyberattacks believed to have taken place between February 2020 and June 2021.
In the meantime, former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential misconduct related to the Trump–Russia investigation, including accusations of making false statements to Congress, according to sources from the Justice Department who communicated with Fox News Digital.
Sources also indicated that current CIA Director John Ratcliffe has referred evidence of possible wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution.
Concerning James Comey, sources from the Department of Justice informed Fox News Digital that an inquiry into the former FBI director is currently in progress, although they refrained from revealing specific details regarding the focus of the investigation.
The complete scope of the criminal inquiries into Brennan and Comey is still uncertain; however, two sources characterized the FBI’s evaluation of their conduct as a potential “conspiracy”—a classification that could considerably expand the spectrum of possible charges, as reported by Fox.
The investigation into Brennan is prompted by CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s recent declassification of a review titled “lessons learned,” which scrutinizes the formulation of the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA). This assessment asserted that Russia sought to interfere in the 2016 presidential election to favor then-candidate Donald Trump.
Nevertheless, the review determined that the development of the ICA was expedited, plagued by “procedural anomalies,” and diverged from established intelligence protocols, as noted by Fox.
Additionally, it concluded that the “decision by agency heads to incorporate the Steele Dossier into the ICA contradicted fundamental tradecraft principles and ultimately compromised the credibility of a crucial judgment.”
The dossier—an anti-Trump document filled with unverified and discredited assertions, commissioned by Fusion GPS and financed by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign along with the Democratic National Committee—has been extensively discredited. The review conducted last week represented the first instance in which career CIA officials recognized that the process behind the drafting of the ICA was influenced by political considerations, particularly by political appointees from the Obama administration.
Declassified records from the recent review have confirmed that Brennan was actively advocating for the inclusion of the Steele dossier in the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA).
Nevertheless, during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in May 2023, Brennan asserted that he did not believe the dossier should have been part of the assessment. The investigation into false statements is now focusing on a newly declassified email that was sent to Brennan by the former deputy CIA director in December 2016, which cautioned that incorporating the dossier in any capacity would endanger “the credibility of the entire paper.”
The Trump White House is seeking accountability for the intelligence officials from the Obama administration.
“President Trump was correct — once again,” stated White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt in a communication to Fox News Digital. “Those who participated in this political scandal must be held responsible for the fraud they perpetrated against President Trump and the falsehoods they conveyed to the American public.”