June 6th, 2025: Beijing's New Bioweapon?: Chinese Nationals Allegedly Smuggle Agroterrorism Pathogen Into US & Putin Plots Revenge
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What alarming scheme involving Chinese nationals is discussed?
It's Friday, the 6th of June. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First, a look at an alarming scheme by two Chinese nationals linked to the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party, to allegedly smuggle a biological pathogen that could be used as an agroterrorism weapon into the U.S., where they intended to conduct covert research at a university laboratory. We'll have those details. Later in the show, President Trump says the Kremlin is preparing to retaliate against Ukraine over their crippling drone attack on Moscow's strategic bomber fleet. The warning followed a lengthy phone call between the president and Vladimir Putin and is further eroding hopes that a peaceful settlement to the war could be achieved.
What does President Trump say about Kremlin's plans?
Plus, a new report reveals that a self-proclaimed, quote, Jew-hater and active participant in anti-Israel protests at Columbia University had direct links to Hamas and the terror group's deadly Al-Qassam brigades. So, wait, you mean that these anti-Semitic protests on college campuses weren't just organic, grassroots protests by sincere, gormless college students? Well, that is shocking.
What shocking report is revealed about anti-Israel protests?
And in today's Back of the Brief, the somber news out of Gaza, where Israeli forces have recovered the bodies of two hostages with dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship that were killed during Hamas's 7 October 2023 terrorist attacks that kicked off this current conflict. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
What somber news comes from Gaza?
We'll start things off with new reporting about an alleged plot by two Chinese nationals, including one with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, to smuggle a dangerous biological pathogen into the US in what one White House official called an attempted attack on the American food supply.
What details are known about the biological pathogen smuggling plot?
Officials with the Department of Justice announced a slew of charges earlier this week against the two Chinese researchers for plotting to transport samples of a dangerous crop-killing fungus described as a potential agro-terrorism weapon One of the suspects in question is Yunqing Jian, a 33-year-old alleged Communist Party loyalist that works in an agricultural lab at the University of Michigan and reportedly received funding from the Chinese government for similar work that she conducted in China. The other is her alleged boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunong Liu, who works as a researcher at a university in China conducting similar studies on agricultural pathogens. According to the DOJ's criminal complaint, Liu was caught at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport last July with samples of the pathogen that he brought on a flight from Shanghai, which he intended to bring to the University of Michigan Laboratory to, quote, further their scheme.
What exactly the intention of the scheme was remains unclear, but DOJ officials, FBI agents, and sources from the Trump administration that spoke exclusively to the New York Post painted an alarming portrait that feels all too reminiscent of allegations of gain-of-function research related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fungus is capable of destroying crops and poisoning both livestock and humans. Specifically, the fungus causes something known as head blight, a disease of wheat and barley, corn and rice, that already causes billions of dollars in economic losses worldwide each year. If ingested by humans, the pathogen causes severe vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects. While the fungus is already present in the U.S., if it was manipulated to become resistant to treatment or to spread more easily, the pathogen could potentially decimate American farms and spread disease throughout the population. That's according to experts that spoke to the New York Post.
At first, Liu lied about the origin of the 10 samples that he was carrying to agents who stopped him at the Detroit airport last July. Liu laid a fest up, telling agents that he was attempting to smuggle the pathogen into the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interaction Laboratory at the University of Michigan to clone the different strains and make more samples.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What alarming scheme involving Chinese nationals is discussed?
0:12–1:04
2
What does President Trump say about Kremlin's plans?
1:04–1:33
3
What shocking report is revealed about anti-Israel protests?
1:33–1:54
4
What somber news comes from Gaza?
1:54–2:13
5
What details are known about the biological pathogen smuggling plot?
2:13–12:44
6
What charges have been brought against the suspects?
12:44–19:32
7
What does Putin's warning to President Trump entail?
19:32–22:14
8
How has Ukraine's drone attack affected Russian military capabilities?
22:14–24:30
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The President's Daily Brief
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