China should have had only one motive concerning coronavirus, and that was to let the world know of its dangers, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who is campaigning for his former Alabama Senate seat, said Monday.
"There's nothing good about this," Sessions said on Fox Business' "Mornings with Maria." "As early as December, the Five Eyes intelligence report said that they knew this was contagious, yet they were denying it was contagious as late as January 20. (They) got the World Health Organization to say it wasn't even contagious while locking up their own doctors who knew better."
China's actions, he added, were "one of the worst things in the history of the world when it comes to healthcare...they were studying these viruses. They knew the danger of viruses like this. It's unbelievable what they did and they need to be held to account."
Sessions also said he has "no expectation" that China will buy the $250 billion of goods agreed to in phase one of the China deal, which was signed on Jan. 15 as the coronavirus epidemic was starting to spread.
Meanwhile, China always has been guilty of intellectual property, said Sessions.
"What we've never seen in the history of the world is a nation-state with trillions of dollars of resources like China, who uses the theft of intellectual property as a strategy," said Sessions.
He added that if he's elected, he wants to lay out a plan to reset the U.S.-China relationship.
"I call my plan betting on America because we can win if we stand up and fight and take off the rose-colored glasses we've been wearing when it comes to China," said Sessions.