It's remarkable, the difference one presidential election can make. On Friday, a district court judge ruled that China must compensate Missouri for its deceptiveness during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, including lying to the world about it, and making it more difficult for countries to prevent deaths by limiting their access to protective equipment. The judgment is a massive sum--$24 billion.
via the NYT:
A federal judge in Missouri found the Chinese government responsible for covering up the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and hoarding protective equipment in a ruling on Friday. He entered a judgment of more than $24 billion that Missouri officials vowed to enforce by seizing Chinese assets.
The lawsuit, filed by the Missouri attorney general’s office in April 2020, during the early months of the pandemic, accused the Chinese government of withholding information about the existence and spread of the virus and then of cutting off the supply of personal protective equipment, or P.P.E., from the rest of the world. Chinese officials said Friday that they did not accept the judge’s decision.
In his ruling, Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. wrote that “China was misleading the world about the dangers and scope of the Covid-19 pandemic” and had “engaged in monopolistic actions to hoard P.P.E.” Those actions, he said, hampered the early response to the pandemic in the United States and made it impossible to purchase enough equipment for medical providers responding to the virus.
Judge Limbaugh, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, imposed the judgment against China, its governing Communist Party, local governments in China, as well as a health agency and a laboratory in the country.
Read related: Four Despicable Things the Chinese Government Did to Cover Up the Outbreak
BREAKING: Wuhan Lab Funder Daszak Emailed Fauci, Thanking Him for Dismissing Lab Leak Theory
The CCP showed a total disrespect for the court throughout the proceedings by not even mounting a defense. Here's more in that vein, from a statement by Chinese D.C. embassy spokesman, Liu Pengyu, after Judge Limbaugh's ruling:
“The so-called lawsuit has no basis in fact, law or international precedence. China does not and will not accept it. If China’s interests are harmed, we will firmly take reciprocal countermeasures according to international law.”
Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), who filed the case as then-state attorney general, celebrated the win for Attorney General Andrew Bailey and Missouri on his X account:
🚨BREAKING: When I was AG in Missouri I sued China for unleashing Covid on the world
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) March 7, 2025
My successor & friend @AGAndrewBailey continued the work & today the court awarded Missouri $24+ Billion in damages
Missouri can now seize assets
Just call us the Show Me (the money) state.
In a statement, Bailey reacted to the judgment--and what he had to know would be China's reaction to it-- vowing to "collect every penny" they owe Americans--in part, by seizing U.S. land owned by China:
“China refused to show up to court, but that doesn’t mean they get away with causing untold suffering and economic devastation. We intend to collect every penny by seizing Chinese-owned assets, including Missouri farmland.”
Checkmate, CCP.
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