Fox Business’ Stuart Varney Falsely Tells Guests Germany Presented $160 Billion Coronavirus Bill to China

Fox Business host Stuart Varney falsely told both Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that Germany had presented China with a $160 billion coronavirus bill, Tuesday, before asking them if the United States should do the same.

“I don’t know whether you saw this or not, Mr. Senator, but earlier this morning in Germany the Germans presented the Chinese with an invoice — as in a bill — for 160 billion dollars worth of damage that they say China did to Germany,” Varney told Scott on Varney & Company. “So it’s not just us, this is worldwide I think.”

“Absolutely,” responded Scott, adding, “Let’s look at the dollars we’ve spent to take care of people and try to get this economy going. We should send a bill to communist China for those dollars. They caused this problem because they were not transparent.”

Later on in the show, Varney also told Newt Gingrich about the alleged bill.

“Newt, I don’t know whether you saw this, but this morning the Germans presented China with an invoice, a bill, 160 billion dollars: ‘You owe us this for the damage you did to the German economy’. Are we going to do something similar?” the Fox Business host questioned. “Make them pay? Is that possible?”

Gingrich replied, “Well, we should… This virus is their fault.”

“We ought to take total economic damages and charge it to the Chinese,” he continued.

The story Varney appeared to be referencing, however, was not from Tuesday morning and was instead reported on last week.

The story was also about Bild, a German tabloid newspaper, which presented China with a mock bill — not the German government itself — though many social media users were confused by a Daily Express headline which appeared to insinuate the German government had presented the bill.

In a fact check last week, Full Fact debunked claims which misinterpreted the story.

“A German newspaper drew up a mock bill but the German government has not sent a bill, as suggested,” they explained, noting that German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Mass called the idea of a bill “illusory.”

On Monday, President Donald Trump hinted that the United States may bill China significantly more than the German newspaper’s proposed $160 billion.

“Germany’s looking at things, and we’re looking at things, and we’re talking about a lot more money than Germany’s talking about,” he said. “We haven’t determined the final amount yet. It’s very substantial.”

Watch above via Fox Business.

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