The legacy media largely omitted a major national security story with immigration implications: the thwarted smuggling of a “potential agroterrorism weapon” by Chinese nationals. The implications are staggering, and the omission is inexcusable.
The only legacy newscast to even touch the story was ABC World News Tonight, and in a scant brief at the back of the A-block. Here is that report in its entirety:
WATCH: ABC is the only legacy newscast to (barely) cover the Chinese smuggling of an agroterrorism weapon into the United States. Critical story that proves the admin right on student visa policy pic.twitter.com/LTH6eb5J6d
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) June 4, 2025
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
6/3/25
6:44 PM
DAVID MUIR: Two Chinese nationals are accused of smuggling a dangerous fungus into the U.S. that experts say could be a potential terror weapon targeting agriculture. This is a microscopic view of that fungus known to cause billions of dollars in damage to crops including wheat, barley, and rice worldwide every year. If consumed by humans, it can cause liver damage and birth defects. One of the suspects allegedly caught with the fungus hidden in his luggage at the Detroit airport. The DoJ claims he lied, saying he was there to visit his girlfriend, a Chinese visiting research fellow at the University of Michigan, but later confessed to having it. We’ll stay on this.
Very vague and very brief, which is to be expected for a 33-second brief that, in fairness, is 33 seconds more than CBS and NBC were willing to muster. CBS, of course, was preoccupied with another critical national security matter: the potential renaming of the USS Harvey Milk. NBC gave two minutes to a local Washington State story about a deranged Doordash driver. And ABC’s brief contained some major omissions.
Federal agents have arrested a University of Michigan scholar from China on charges she tried to smuggle a biological pathogen into the United States characterized as a potential agricultural terrorism weapon that can be used for targeting food crops.
The FBI counterintelligence case against UM scholar Yunqing Jian, 33, and her boyfriend, 34-year-old Zunyong Liu, was unsealed in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday and marks the second time in less than a week a Chinese national with ties to the university has been charged with federal crimes.
On Friday, prosecutors unsealed a criminal case against a former University of Michigan Chinese student who voted illegally in the 2024 election, saying he fled the U.S. to avoid prosecution.
Jian is a citizen of China who received a doctorate degree in plant pathogens from Zhejiang University, and investigators say they have discovered information describing her membership in and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. Prosecutors say she received money from a Chinese foundation funded largely by the Chinese government to conduct post-doctoral work, including research on a fungus known as Fusarium graminearum, a biological pathogen that can cause devastating diseases in crops.
So at least one of these detainees is a scholar at the University of Michigan. That seems pretty dangerous for our crops, and for any humans consuming this stuff. Additionally, the report mentions that this bioweapon is dangerous to cattle. This smuggled bioagent is potentially destructive on many fronts, and its smuggling on to American soil would constitute a major hostile act against the United States.
Why suppress such a critical story? Because in one fell swoop, it validates everything said by the Trump Administration in terms of immigration and the issuance of student visas to individuals from hostile regimes.
This story is a reverse Harvard, if you will. And that’s why it got such short shrift on the legacy media evening newscasts. For shame.