During a June 5 diatribe about the dangers of Chinese influence within our hemisphere, Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy wrongly asserted that “bioweapons labs [were] found in California.” The host was seemingly referring to debunked conspiracy theories that had circulated the previous fall.

In 2023, an investigation by the Food and Drug Administration found an unauthorized lab in Fresno, California, which was owned by Jia Bei Zhu. Zhu was arrested on “charges of not obtaining the proper permits to manufacture tests for COVID-19, pregnancy and HIV.” 

Discovery of the lab had fueled conspiracy theories about bioweapons, but as The Associated Press reported at the time, “The charges deal with federal health regulations, nothing related to online conspiracy theories about China purportedly trying to engineer biological weapons in rural America.” Additionally, according to the article, “The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was no sign that the lab was illegally in possession of the materials or had select agents or toxins that could be used as bioweapons.”

Yet during a morning rant about the supposed dangers permeating American borders, Campos-Duffy seemingly referred to the lab while fearmongering about “the Chinese exerting influence all over our hemisphere.” She went on to allege that “some people [are] saying the election in Mexico, the Chinese were very much involved in that election.”