Republican representative calls Covid a bioweapon and claims to have been targeted with it twice
Lawmaker claims he and his wife already had the virus once in January
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Republican congressman from Louisiana has described the coronavirus as a “bioweapon” and alleges he has been targeted by it twice after contracting the virus for a second time.
US Representative Clay Higgins claimed Covid was a Chinese-produced “biological attack weaponised virus”.
In a Facebook post, Mr Higgins revealed he and his immediate family all caught the coronavirus, suggesting none of them have had the vaccination that has been available widely for half a year.
He also revealed that he and his wife had the coronavirus early in its US landfall.
“Becca and I had Covid before, early on, in January 2020 before the world really knew what it was,” he claimed.
He said that “this episode is far more challenging”, noting that it “has required all of my devoted energy”.
Mr Higgins said that his family was receiving “excellent care” and were in relatively good health considering the potential severity of the virus.
The lawmaker has not commented publicly on his vaccination status, but has encouraged his constituents to take the shot. Louisiana has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with only 36 per cent of its adult population fully vaccinated. Just over half of all American adults are fully vaccinated.
Mr Higgins has a history of passing along misinformation and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus as fact.
Last year, the lawmaker claimed the coronavirus “was created in a laboratory” and regularly parroted Donald Trump's name for the virus, calling it the “Chinese virus”.
When pressed to cite his sources for those claims, Mr Higgins refused to defend his assertions and told reporters to “Google” the theories.
There is currently no evidence that the coronavirus was bred in and escaped a lab, although US intelligence officials have been tasked with investigating the possibility by the Biden administration. The results of that investigation are expected at the end of the summer.
Mr Higgins has a long history of making controversial statements. In 2017, he called for “no quarter” for anyone considered “radicalised” by Islam.
“Kill them. Kill them all,” he said.
He also made a video in a gas chamber in the Auschwitz concentration camp that he used as a way to argue that the US military needed to be “invincible” in order to prevent something like the Holocaust from ever happening again.
He was widely criticised for using the gas chamber as a way to further his political beliefs and agenda and eventually removed the video from his official channels.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments