Democrats and the Department of State are letting Chinese nationals take military-funded research back to China.
Posted by Bannon`s War Room, Checked
- Sources
- 2 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 30%
Bannon`s War RoomAug 17, 2026
The claim adds actors the passage never names: the post attributes the problem to Chinese nationals at universities and says nothing about Democrats or the Department of State, so the claim departs from the passage.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… But then the other side of this, Steve, which I could probably come on your show for, like, the rest of the year and just rattle off names, uhm, they'd be hard to pronounce, but, is these non-American citizens. So, they're Chinese nationals who come over here, get posted up at these universities, get foreign grant money, your tax dollars, not to, like, do research on fun things, literally to do military funded research, and then shortly after, or sometimes concurrently, we'll go back to China and literally do the same exact thing. …
Bannon`s War Room · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. A House GOP report found Pentagon-funded college research aided the Chinese military, which partly corroborates the underlying concern about military-funded research flowing to China.[1]
Supports. A House Select Committee report on DOE containment breaches describes foreign nationals with ties to China's defense base gaining access to taxpayer-funded research and resources, but it attributes the permissiveness to DOE and does not name Democrats or the State Department.[2]
Context. The claimant's passage describes Chinese nationals at US universities receiving grant money and doing military-funded research before returning to China, but does not mention Democrats or the Department of State.
Context. Other sources cover US congressional and NSF efforts to restrict China research collaboration, but none states that Democrats or the Department of State are allowing Chinese nationals to take military-funded research back to China.[3]
Sources
3 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 primary, 1 tier 1
- 1Pentagon-funded projects helped Chinese military: House ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2CONTAINMENT BREACH: | Select Committee on the CCPchinaselectcommittee.house.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 3US politicians push agencies to restrict research ...nature.com · tier 1 · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post