New German documentary on lab leak

The gardener, master, and slave

Jul 04, 2025

A new documentary about a lab leak aired on a German-language public broadcasting channel, featuring Valentin Bruttel, who discovered the SARS-CoV-2 restriction sites, as well as genetics professor Günter Theissen from the University of Jena and German virologist Alexander Kekulé.

Kekulé is cool because he had the best 2021 quote about DARPA Defuse:

It's like this: you don't have a smoking gun, but you have a letter from the gardener who wrote, I'll take the following pistol, load the following ammunition, and then shoot the master of the house. Then, the master of the house lies dead on the ground, shot with that exact caliber. And you say the killer wasn't the gardener.

The new 2025 lab leak documentary mentions the gardener, Ralph Baric, and his pistol (aka SARS2 patent), as well as the master of the house, Tony Fauci, who funded DARPA Defuse, and the lab slave, Dani Anderson, who could be Patient 0.

Turn on closed captions for English translation:

Aya Velázquez was more objective in her German opinion, so reposting her Substack in English:

On June 30, 2025, a new 3sat documentary on the laboratory theory was released, which can undoubtedly be described as a milestone in the mainstream German media discourse on the origin of the coronavirus. For the first time, key basic information and protagonists were presented to the German television audience in a condensed form.

The first twelve and a half minutes of the documentary are nothing short of sensational, measured by the usual standards of public broadcasting: For the first time, the viewer learns about the in-depth background to the manipulation of the "Proximal Origin" research paper, which rejected the laboratory theory in March 2020 as "implausible" and became a leading figure in the discourse. The viewers learn about the Slack messages and emails of the Proximal Origin authors, who internally assumed the virus had a laboratory origin, but publicly claimed the opposite. The viewers learn about the controversial letter in The Lancet, which branded the laboratory theory a conspiracy theory without providing any evidence, as well as the controversy surrounding the role of Christian Drosten. The viewers learn about the suspicious coronavirus patent by virology professor Ralph Baric from 2018, which bore a strong resemblance to the blueprint for SARS-CoV-2. He is familiar with the furin cleavage site, the DARPA Defuse project proposal, and Danielle Anderson, a researcher on the DARPA Defuse team who conducted research in Wuhan during the fall of 2019. The groundbreaking discoveries of Dr. Valentin Bruttel—strikingly evenly distributed cleavage sites in the virus genome, listed in a "shopping list" of the DARPA Defuse draft—are also highlighted, as are the well-founded assessments of Prof. Günter Theißen and Prof. Ronald Wiesendanger. The mainstream media are rehabilitating Bruttel, Wiesendanger, and Theißen in the new 3Sat report, and are now finally receiving the recognition they deserve, which is both gratifying and long overdue.

However, to classify the facts presented as “new evidence,” as the report's creators confidently claim in the subtitle, implies a certain presumption: the facts have been known since 2021. They were compiled through painstaking investigative work by freelance journalists and groups such as US Right to Know and DRASTIC. We also owe our current level of knowledge to courageous researchers and whistleblowers such as Major Joseph Murphy, Jimmy Tobias, Emily A. Kopp, Jim Haslam, Billy Bostickson, Richard W. Ebright, Alina Chan, Tony van Dongen, Alex Washburne, and many others. Apart from Bruttel, Wiesendanger, and Theißen, the majority of the courageous pioneers who have stood up for themselves during the Corona years and to whom 3Sat owes its insights are not mentioned at all in the report. This creates a misleading impression for the viewer that the public broadcaster's journalists discovered everything themselves.

The German discourse on the laboratory accident: Focus on China

Up until minute 12:28, the German documentary is flawless in content, but then the closing remarks: "Only China knows the truth – and China doesn't want to share all its lab records yet." There it is again: the good old "China must open its books" narrative, which has increasingly entered German discourse since the BND [Germany’s CIA is called BND] revelations by the eminent journalists Mascolo, Stark, and Boie – and which aligns remarkably well with US interests.

NZZ (Johannes Boie) , ZEIT/SZ (Mascolo/Stark)

On March 12, 2025, two reports on the BND's laboratory accident findings were published: “Deep red, stamped secret” by Georg Mascolo and Holger Stark in ZEIT and SZ, and “The German government has plausible evidence that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan laboratory” by Johannes Boie in the German edition of NZZ. Both texts were written “in parallel for a long time” but independently of each other, Boie explained on the X platform. At some point, he learned that his two colleagues from SZ and ZEIT were also researching the matter. Mascolo and Stark stated in their text that their research was based on one and a half years of preparatory work. Given a text that an average journalist can easily write in a week, the question arises why the two waited so long to publish the explosive material.

In their article, Mascolo and Stark even hint at why, five years after the coronavirus pandemic, things have finally “moved.” The Federal Chancellery had sworn the BND to secrecy until December 2024 – and from that date, the BND was permitted to share its findings with a “hand-picked group of scientists sworn to secrecy,” including Christian Drosten. December 2024 also marked the interim period between the Biden and Trump administrations. It is conceivable that new directives from the White House brought “movement to the matter.” It is incomprehensible why journalists have adhered to a "secrecy order" from the Chancellery for years, despite having access to explosive information. Journalists are not civil servants – they are not bound by directives to maintain secrecy from politics or intelligence agencies.

Both Mascolo and Stark, as well as Boie, suggest in their articles that the lab accident was likely due to poor laboratory safety in China. It was not the Chinese intention, but the Chinese government is now trying to prevent an investigation due to its misconduct, according to the tenor of both articles:

"The Wuhan Institute of Virology is a high-security zone from which viruses cannot escape. But during their operation, the German agents discovered that security precautions in Wuhan were apparently surprisingly lax. Samples from virus-infected animals were taken carelessly and transported back and forth carelessly. Sloppiness was widespread. This increased the risk that pathogens might actually have left the laboratory. The evaluators do not believe this was intentional by the Chinese. They believe it was an accident. The Chinese government has consistently denied the laboratory origin."

From: ZEIT: Georg Mascolo and Holger Stark: "Deep red labeled secret," March 12, 2025
“Chinese deny transparent clarification
To this day, the Chinese authorities have refused to provide a transparent and open explanation of the origins of the pandemic. A single on-site meeting focused on the Level 3 and Level 4 laboratories in Wuhan, although it is known that this research on SARS-CoV-2 took place in the Level 2 area of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. [Dani was based in BSL4]
The Chinese are still not sharing samples. For example, samples from raccoon dogs could quickly and conclusively substantiate the most well-known theory that the pandemic originated at the animal market in Wuhan. Human samples from early infections could also definitively answer the question of the origin of SARS-CoV-2; it is likely that many of these samples exist, but according to researchers at the Federal Intelligence Service, the Chinese are not sharing them.
From: NZZ/ Johannes Boie: The German government has plausible evidence that the coronavirus originated in the laboratory in Wuhan , Archive Link 12.03.2025

The US trade war with China and the coronavirus “blame game”

One month after the BND report by Mascolo, Stark, and Boie, the US government website “covid.gov” underwent a new design: Donald Trump strides resolutely toward the viewer as a heroic savior of enlightenment, fronting gigantic “Lab Leak” letters in a blockbuster style. Frank Zappa was right: Politics is the entertainment sector of the military-industrial complex.

US government website covid.gov, relaunched on April 19, 2025

Politics as entertainment: The White House warns against visiting the newly launched government website “covid.gov”

Scrolling through the Hollywood-style website, you quickly learn who the US government blames for the origin of the coronavirus, alongside former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, former NIH Director David Morens, and a few other bad apples in the US basket: China. Points three and four in a five-point list refer to China's primary responsibility.

A few days later, the Republicans in the White House upped the ante on their X-account and toughened their tone: “China’s coronavirus” was responsible for one million American deaths, and China must be held accountable for this.

X-Post of the Republicans in the White House

At the same time that the blame game escalated, the US trade war with China also intensified: Mutual tariff demands reached their peak in April, with US import tariffs on Chinese products reaching as high as 145%. It's the economy, stupid.

The new 3Sat report contains numerous indications of a US origin of the coronavirus, but also only considers China

The 3Sat report introduced viewers to researcher Danielle Anderson, who edited parts of the DARPA Defuse bid before entering the Wuhan BSL4

In its conclusion, the new 3Sat report echoed the sentiments of the White House and the transatlantic-minded journalists Mascolo, Stark, and Boie: Only China knows the truth about the origin of the coronavirus.

Baric’s 2018 patent on HKU3-Smix = SARS-CoV-2

In striking contrast, the report presents viewers with numerous clues that more likely suggest a US origin: It reports on the massive, US-controlled manipulation surrounding the "Proximal Origin" research paper after Fauci had appealed to the authors' conscience. It also reports on the questionable role of Anthony Fauci and his funding of gain-of-function research. It also discusses the significance of the "DARPA Defuse" project proposal and Ralph Baric, who is identified as the mastermind behind the proposal. Baric's infamous 2018 patent for a coronavirus chimera, which bears a suspicious resemblance to the blueprint for SARS-CoV-2, is also mentioned in the report. The questionable activities of the EcoHealth Alliance organization, as well as those of its director, Peter Daszak, are examined. He served as an intermediary between US authorities and Chinese laboratories. Viewers learn about researcher Danielle Anderson, who was featured in the "DARPA Defuse" proposal and worked in a high-security laboratory in Wuhan in the fall of 2019, under contract with Anthony Fauci.

DARPA Defuse TA1 & TA2 = Fauci’s 2R01 & U01 grant

After all this well-presented information, the 3Sat presenter concludes that only China knows the truth. This is unconvincing. Because the alleged coronavirus lab leak presents a classic crime scene or accident scene situation, determining the truth requires an open-ended process of examining circumstantial evidence. The reporters had key pieces of evidence at their disposal, but they shied away from drawing logical conclusions from them. It is also conceivable that they have not yet fully understood that the location where a virus breaks out tells us nothing about where the virus was produced. By prematurely committing to China without considering all suspects, leading German media outlets are, consciously or unconsciously, playing into the geopolitical goals of the USA. This is just as unfounded as the previous, premature commitment to the zoonosis theory.

A central demand arising from the findings of the alleged coronavirus laboratory accident and articulated by numerous experts is not mentioned in the 3Sat report: that gain-of-function research should be subject to at least as strict supervision as ABC weapons. If not, GoF should be abolished with the help of a global moratorium on gain-of-function research. Ultimately, clarifying the origins of the coronavirus is not about the guilt of individual nation-states, but rather about fundamentally questioning a globally operating research sector that employs a hazardous method, which, due to its dual nature, is also of interest to the military industry. Even if the apologists of gain-of-function research like to cloak it in a civilian guise. It can always be misused in the context of biological weapons research. The fact that this highly abuse-prone research is still funded from public tax coffers is the real scandal. However, the 3Sat report doesn't engage in such considerations—instead, it shifts the blame solely onto China. Geopolitically motivated finger-pointing, similar to Trump's ranting about the "Chinese virus," will not help us prevent future laboratory-based pandemics.

To understand the origin of the coronavirus, not only China but also the USA would have to open their books because the location of a virus outbreak tells us nothing about its origin. A researcher from a successor to the "DARPA Defuse" project under the patronage of Anthony Fauci was in a laboratory in Wuhan in the fall of 2019 - this is undeniable evidence. Against this background, a possible US origin of the virus must also be considered openly.

In the USA, this has been happening for a long time. Former CDC Director Robert Redfield recently stated in an interview with Dana Parish that, although he cannot prove it, he suspects the coronavirus originated in the vicinity of the University of North Carolina. Jeffrey Sachs, the former head of the COVID-19 Task Force for the scientific journal The Lancet, also suggests a US origin of the coronavirus.. On June 13, The Raleigh News & Observer reported that a commission of North Carolina General Assembly members had demanded the release of the files on Ralph Baric from the University of North Carolina. These developments have been mainly overlooked by the German mainstream media, which has instead chosen to disseminate the preferred narrative of the China hawks in the White House.

Raleigh News & Observer: NC legislature launch 'fact-finding mission' into UNC coronavirus researcher Ralph Baric

In addition to consistent public awareness, the most important requirement, in my view, arising from the presumed laboratory origin of SARS-CoV-2 is a broad societal debate about the legitimacy of gain-of-function research. Given the current evidence, abolishing this high-risk research would likely be the most sensible approach to pandemic prevention.

Aya Velázquez

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10 months ago · 28 likes · 4 comments · Aya Velázquez