Former U.S. Army Special Forces Member Jim Hanson questioned Wednesday on Fox News the “credibility” of a CBS “60 Minutes” report claiming a mysterious illness affecting diplomats known as “Havana syndrome” could be an attack from Russian intelligence.
Hanson appeared on “Jesse Watters Primetime” to discuss the release of the information by the network claiming that the neurological symptoms could be caused by a Russian weapon that uses directed energy. The claims from the CBS report come nearly a year after the U.S. intelligence agencies stated on March 1, 2023, that the syndrome couldn’t be tied to direct attacks from any foreign adversary.
Fox host Jesse Watters questioned Hanson on the issue, asking what he believed was “really going on” with the story. (RELATED: Pentagon Spent Every Last Penny Of Latest Ukraine Package Before Congress Even Approved It)
“It’s impossible to know for certain but like you, Jesse, I find it particularly convenient that right now when the Ukraine money train is going off the rails, all of a sudden this story gets resurrected after the government said it didn’t happen. [Now] we’ve got ‘Darth Putin’ shooting death star beams at our diplomats in order to get everybody riled up? I think that’s pretty unlikely. These weapons exist, there’s no question about that, we have them. But the idea that this now is 60 minutes – 0h, very credible source there – and some anti-Putin Russian media, I don’t find it very credible,” Hanson stated.
Watters continued to press the former U.S. Army special forces member on why he believed “60 Minutes” would allegedly push the story if it benefits the “Ukraine situation” while having the federal government deny the connection.
“Yeah, that’s the piece that doesn’t quite fit together. Because usually, the regime media is doing the bidding of the regime. And in this case, they seem to have a disconnect. I don’t know why the government, if this is happening, I don’t know why they would want to say it isn’t. I do know why 60 Minutes, Der Spiegel, and the anti-Putin Russian people want it to happen, because they need to back their boy Zelenskyy in the forever war against Putin. So I think there is an issue of who’s got an advantage, and in this case, the regime media may be ahead out of their skeeze as far as what the regime wants them to do,” Hanson stated.
CBS released their report on the allegations April 1, revealing interviews with officials claiming to have the “syndrome,” as well as part of the investigation into the issue. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that the investigation is not closed as they believe that the “findings do not call into question the very real experiences and symptoms that our colleagues and their family members have reported,” according to Fox News.