‘We stand undeterred’: Senator Schmitt, Missouri AG defy China’s $50 billion revenge suit over COVID

Missouri U.S. Senator Eric Schmitt and state officials announced Tuesday they’ve been targeted in a $50 billion revenge lawsuit filed by the Chinese government.

The legal action coming from Wuhan – the very city where the 2020 pandemic began – comes as Missouri prepares to seize Chinese-owned assets to satisfy a historic $24 billion judgment won earlier this year.

China’s lawsuit names Schmitt, the State of Missouri and current and former state attorneys general as defendants. The plaintiffs include the People’s Government of Wuhan Municipality, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the infamous Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Officials say the move is a direct attempt by The Communist Party of China (CCP) to block Missouri from collecting damages for China’s role in unleashing and worsening the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ve been banned from Communist China, and now I am being sued and targeted by Communist China in a $50 billion lawfare campaign, and I’ll wear it like a badge of honor,” Schmitt said in a statement. “China’s sinister malfeasance during the COVID-19 pandemic led to over a million Americans losing their lives, economic turmoil that rocked our country for years, and an enormous amount of human suffering.”

The timing of the lawsuit coincides with Missouri’s aggressive enforcement of a U.S. court victory.

In March 2025, a federal judge in Missouri entered a $24 billion judgment against the People’s Republic of China for hoarding personal protective equipment (PPE) and concealing the nature of the virus during the early days of the outbreak.

In November, Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway announced plans to begin seizing Chinese-owned assets in the state to satisfy the judgment, including farmland and financial holdings.

“I find it extremely telling that the Chinese blame our great state for ‘belittling the social evaluation’ of The Wuhan Institute of Virology,” state Attorney General Hanaway said in a statement.

“This lawsuit is a stalling tactic and tells me that we have been on the right side of this issue all along. We stand undeterred in our mission to collect on our $24 billion judgment that was lawfully handed down in federal court.”

The Chinese filing, which labels Missouri’s original accountability efforts as “vexatious litigation,” claims the state’s actions have “deeply endangered sovereignty, security and development interests of China.”

China is demanding the defendants “issue public apologies on New York Times, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, YouTube and other American media or internet platforms, and People’s Daily, Xinhuanet and other Chinese media or internet platforms …” 

Schmitt, who originally filed the case against China in 2020 while serving as Missouri’s attorney general, dismissed the Wuhan filing as “factually baseless” and “legally meritless.”

“This is their way of distracting from what the world already knows: China has blood on its hands,” Schmitt said. “China lied about the origins of the COVID virus, they tried to cover it up, and they upended the world.”

The Chinese packet names not only Schmitt and Gov. Mike Kehoe, but also former Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who now serves as co-deputy director of the FBI.

China’s filing claims Schmitt and Bailey “fabricated numerous” pieces of disinformation regarding China’s hoarding of PPE and obstruction of virus investigations – although China abstained from participating in the Missouri trial, at which the AG’s office produced proof of the communist party’s actions surrounding COVID.

Despite the threats from Beijing, Missouri officials indicated they are moving forward with the seizing of Chinese assets.

Once diplomatic service of the U.S. judgment is confirmed, AG Hanaway’s office intends to return to federal court to finalize the certification required to begin seizing Chinese assets on American soil.

“This novel lawsuit is factually baseless, legally meritless, and any fake judgment a Chinese court issues in this lawsuit,” Schmitt said. “We will easily beat back and keep from being enforced against the people of Missouri or me. This is their way of distracting from what the world already knows: China has blood on its hands. China lied about the origins of COVID virus, they tried to cover it up, and they upended the world by creating a global pandemic that resulted in immense human loss.

“The responsibility lies squarely at their feet. No amount of CCP-choreographed lawfare will deter me from standing up for Missourians and the American people.”

To date, China has refused to appear in U.S. Court.