Tim Walz helped secure millions in US funds for research center tied to Wuhan lab

Vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz helped to secure millions in funding for a research facility that has partnered with the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. He also promoted the research facility. The lab has been theorized to be a likely location of where the COVID-19 pandemic originated and has been a topic of controversy for its connections to US funding.

According to the Washington Examiner, a research facility affiliated with the University of Minnesota called the Hormel Institute, often collaborates with the Wuhan lab in China. For more than a decade, Walz has been holding meetings with the research facility in the state of Minnesota and has touted the center for its work. The Hormel Institute thanked Walz for secure it millions of dollars in funding, per the Examiner. Walz reportedly pushed for a $5 million federal earmark for the center in 2008 as well as helped it get $2 million as a congressman.