"Real Time" host Bill Maher called out the left's hesitancy to criticize China, declaring the foreign adversary as "the new Islam" in political discourse.

During Friday night's panel discussion, Maher sounded the alarm on China's AI advancements with the launch of DeepSeek, echoing references to the "Sputnik moment" for the US. He also cited comments from former FBI director Christopher Wray, who said the Chinese Communist Party was positioning "malware" against civilians and is development of Salt Typhoon that can "read the texts of every single American."

"And it is kind of an evil empire, you know," Maher said. "And this kind of gets back to the DEI thing because when you make everything about race, not good!"

BILL MAHER SHOCKED TO ADMIT ‘TRUMP IS COOL NOW,’ SAYS SPORTS PLAYERS LOVE THE PRESIDENT

"I mean, we couldn't look into the origins of COVID being from the lab, which now the CIA, this week, has joined the FBI and many other organizations saying it probably did come from a lab. I said it from the beginning. It's being studied in this lab where it breaks out. Really? We're gonna even wonder about this? Now, maybe it was a bat… [but] we couldn't say that because the New York Times said to even look into that is racist," Maher continued.

In 2021, A New York Times science and health reporter tweeted that the "lab leak" coronavirus theory had "racist roots" and was not "plausible."

Maher went on, "China's like the new Islam. We can't be honest about them because they're not White. And China, okay, I'm sorry, kids, they do some bad things, China. And we should just recognize that."

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"This is one of the broader problems with this obsession of all of these ideologies from the left," British writer Dan Jones reacted, "is that it hamstrings you in terms of thinking common sense pol-"

"Thinking!" Maher blurted out. 

"Thinking," Jones said in agreement, "because you know if you're framing it in terms of a war, you're fighting with one arm tied behind your back. You're just not thinking about the world as you see it, you're optimizing the signifying to the group around you."

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Author Max Brooks went on to pan what he calls the "guilty Honkies" who are "only interested in assuaging their guilt."

"Now the good news about this country, we have people of every ethnicity. If you want to take on not China but the Chinese Communist Party, start with Chinese Americans who fled China, right, because they'll have honest conversations, and they're much American as all of us and they don't have guilty honkiness," Brooks said.

"Same with Muslims who fled Muslm countries," Maher responded. 

"You want to talk s--- about Fidel Castro? Go down to Miami. You'll find plenty of people willing to have that conversation," Brooks added.

– Fox News Digital's David Rutz contributed to this report.

As health officials report a surge of winter viruses, health experts are warning that heart disease symptoms can sometimes mimic respiratory illnesses.

Four viruses are circulating in the U.S., sparking concerns of a possible "quademic."

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), influenza, COVID-19 and norovirus are all at "very high levels" around the country, experts warn. 

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The American Heart Association (AHA) confirmed that certain viruses have been linked to increased risk of heart attack and stroke. 

"The highest risk is within three days of infection, but remains heightened for up to 90 days," the AHA stated on its website.

Johanna Contreras, M.D., a cardiologist at Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York City, said she has seen people mistaking virus symptoms for serious heart complications.

Some patients who experience shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, swelling and palpitations may assume their symptoms are linked to a cold when these could be signs of heart failure, she said in a release sent to Fox News Digital.

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Weakness, fever, dizziness and chest pain could also mask potentially life-threatening conditions.

Those may include pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs), heart attack, pericarditis (inflammation around the lining of the heart), heart failure or viral myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle), according to Mount Sinai cardiologists.

Viruses can provoke an inflammatory condition, which can lead to or worsen cardiac conditions, according to Dr. Icilma Fergus, director of cardiovascular disparities for the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.

"Typically, those [viruses] that make one sicker and promote a hypercoaguable state (an increased tendency to form blood clots) are more dangerous," she told Fox News Digital. 

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"The focus has now been increasingly placed on RSV and norovirus on top of the known influenza and COVID viruses."

Anuradha Lala, M.D., another cardiologist at Mount Sinai in New York City, noted that the body’s immune system creates an inflammatory response to fight and eliminate the virus — but this inflammation could inadvertently harm cardiac tissue. 

"If you have a known heart condition, viral infections can bring on exacerbations — or a worsening of the underlying tissue — whether it is atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease or heart failure," she noted in the release.

A recent patient at the hospital recently experienced severe shortness of breath, weakness, palpitations and fatigue, fearing they had heart failure, she noted. 

"After they had bloodwork taken, there was a frantic moment when we could not reach the patient to share results that revealed a significantly elevated troponin level, which can be linked to a heart attack," she shared in the release. 

"Although we suspected the worst, we eventually reached the patient and they were hospitalized with influenza A and severe viral myocarditis. They were treated appropriately and luckily there was a good outcome."

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Older adults — as well as those who are immunocompromised or have a history of heart issues or other underlying conditions — are particularly at risk for cardiac complications, according to the Mount Sinai cardiologists. 

"Anyone is susceptible, even healthcare providers — and anyone who is not paying attention to their symptoms may get sick with potentially life-threatening complications," Fergus said in the report.

Patients who notice persistent chest pain and palpitations after a viral illness should consider ruling out myocarditis, which is inflammation of the heart muscle, according to Contreras.

It is important to discuss any post-virus symptoms with a healthcare professional, especially for those in high-risk groups, health experts told Fox News Digital.

Specific symptoms that warrant emergency attention include chest pain, difficulty breathing or staying awake, feelings of passing out, or extremes of blood pressure.

Swelling of the legs may also be linked to cardiac events — especially if there is also an underlying heart condition or risk factors such as obesity, diabetes or a family history of heart disease, Lala stated in the Mount Sinai release.

During the cold, damp winter months, certain viruses may thrive and become more virulent, Fergus told Fox News Digital. 

"People should stay vigilant and observe for symptoms of an impending cold," she advised. "Get tested to know what virus you have, as the antiviral treatments are different."

People should take measures to avoid exposure to winter illnesses and seek treatment if they become ill, especially if they have an underlying condition, Fergus advised.

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It is recommended that those who are in vulnerable groups get vaccines when available, the cardiologist added.

The American Heart Association recommends following the below precautions to reduce the chances of contracting a virus: 

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is continuing his efforts to investigate the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he wants answers from Dr. Anthony Fauci.   

In his new position as chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security committee, Paul issued subpoenas to 14 agencies from the outgoing Biden administration aimed at building on past congressional investigations into the COVID-19 virus and risky taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research. It is unclear who exactly from each agency will ultimately be deposed, but a Fauci deposition is possible. 

"In the wake of Anthony Fauci’s preemptive pardon, there are still questions to be answered," Paul said in a statement after announcing the issuance of his subpoenas. "Subpoenas were sent from the Committee to NIH [National Institutes of Health] and 13 other agencies regarding their involvement in risky gain-of-function research. The goal of the investigation will be to critique the process that allowed this dangerous research, that may have led to the pandemic, to occur in a foreign country under unsafe protocols and to ensure that there is sufficient oversight and review going forward, making sure a mistake of this magnitude never happens again."

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While former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci to protect him from political retribution under the new Trump administration, legal experts have questioned the validity of such a pardon. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Baily suggested to Fox News that since Biden's own Justice Department indicated he lacked the mental faculties to be held criminally liable for improper handling of classified documents, it could be argued he also lacked the mens rea to issue pardons to people like Fauci. Additionally, the pardon Fauci received only covers his actions from January 2014 to the date of his pardon. As a result, a refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena could also potentially result in criminal charges.

Paul's investigation will build on a previous bipartisan probe launched by the Senate's Homeland Security committee last year looking into the national security threats posed by "high-risk biological research and technology in the U.S. and abroad." 

A second investigation being launched by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman of the Permanent Select Subcommittee on Investigations, will similarly probe concerns in the new Congress surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and will include a review of email communications from Fauci.  

MISSOURI AG SAYS LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ANTHONY FAUCI IS STILL ON THE TABLE 

Since the pandemic began, Paul has sent dozens of requests for information related to the origins of the COVID-19 virus and gain-of-function research. Last year, his efforts revealed documents that he said show that government officials from at least 15 federal agencies knew in 2018 that China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was working on creating a coronavirus similar to COVID-19.

The WIV has been a centerpiece in the debate over the origins of COVID-19, as it was eventually discovered that American scientist Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance was using taxpayer dollars to conduct risky research on the novel bat virus out of the WIV prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services barred Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance from receiving federal funding for five years. 

Meanwhile, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told Congress in May 2021 that the NIH "has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology."

DR. FAUCI SAYS HE APPRECIATES PRESIDENT BIDEN'S PARDON BUT INSISTS ‘NO CRIME’ WAS COMMITTED

The Trump administration is reportedly preparing an executive order to halt all U.S. funding going towards gain-of-function research. 

Federal officials remain split on where the COVID-19 virus originated from. Three agencies — the Department of Energy, the FBI and the CIA — have determined that the most likely origin narrative is the lab leak theory, but others in the intelligence community and throughout the federal government say they can either not conclude that a lab leak was the most likely scenario, or they say that a natural origin scenario is most likely. A declassified intelligence report from 2021, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, posited that if a lab leak did turn out to be the catalyst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was likely the result of an accident.

Representatives for Paul declined to comment for this report, while Fauci did not respond to a request for comment. 

Massachusetts must pay the federal government $2.1 billion over the next 10 years to resolve a debt after the state under former GOP Gov. Charlie Baker's administration mistakenly used federal pandemic funds to cover unemployment benefits.

Current Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, and her deputies released details on Monday of a settlement they reached with the outgoing Biden administration last week in which the state will repay most of the money it owed because of the error, the State House News Service reported.

In 2023, Healey announced that her administration uncovered that the prior administration improperly used about $2.5 billion in federal pandemic relief funds to cover unemployment benefits that should have been funded by the state.

The total liability exceeded $3 billion, including fees and interest, according to Healey’s office. Negotiations with the U.S. Department of Labor dropped the total owed to $2.1 billion over the next decade.

DEM MASSACHUSETTS NOW WANTS TO LIMIT ILLEGALS IN CRIME-RIDDEN MIGRANT SHELTERS

"We were dismayed to uncover early on in our term that the previous administration misspent billions of dollars in federal relief funds and that our state was facing what could have been a more than $3 billion tab to pay it back," Healey said in a statement on Monday.

"For the past year and a half, we have engaged in extensive negotiations with the U.S. Department of Labor to minimize the impact on Massachusetts residents, businesses and our economy," she continued. "Today, we have reduced our potential liability by over $1 billion and negotiated a decade-long payment window to mitigate the impact."

The governor added that it is "incredibly frustrating that the prior administration allowed this to happen" but that the current administration is "going to use this as a moment to come together with the business and labor community to make meaningful reforms to the Unemployment Insurance system."

Payments will begin Dec. 1 and continue each year for the next decade.

The agreement states that principal payments must come from the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund, which is funded by a tax on employers and is also used to cover benefits, according to the State House News Service. Interest payments will come from the state’s General Fund.

Healey’s office said businesses will not face higher rates on their unemployment insurance payments through at least the end of next year, at which point rates will depend on system reforms.

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The governor vowed to pursue changes to soften the burden on employers, who already face higher costs to support an uptick of claims during the pandemic, according to the State House News Service.

Healey directed state Labor Secretary Lauren Jones and Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz to "conduct a comprehensive review of the solvency of UI and assess potential reforms."

The Healey administration projected the UI Trust Fund would be hundreds of millions of dollars in debt by the end of 2028, even before taking into account the $2.1 billion in additional payments.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) debarred EcoHealth Alliance Inc. and its former President Dr. Peter Daszak, formally blocking both the firm and the doctor from receiving federal funds for five years. EcoHealth allegedly failed to report dangerous gain-of-function experiments to the government, which eventually led to the debarment. In the notice of debarment for Daszak, an HHS official wrote that the actions taken were "necessary" to protect US government business interests.

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., cheered on the debarment in a statement, calling it "justice for the American people." Comer went on to slam "bad actor" EcoHealth and "its corrupt former president" for using taxpayer dollars to carry out "dangerous gain-of-function research in China."

In May, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which is under the House Oversight Committee, issued an interim report detailing the findings of its investigation into government funding and lack of oversight on gain-of-function research.

HHS MOVES TO DEBAR ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE PRESIDENT OVER FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH GRANT PROCEDURES

The subcommittee noted in the report that it had found "significant evidence" that Daszak "repeatedly violated the terms of the NIH grant awarded to EcoHealth." In light of the findings, the committee ultimately recommended EcoHealth and Deszak be formally debarred and blocked from receiving "any" federal funding.

Additionally, in its review, the committee accused EcoHealth of failing to submit an annual research update, only to file it in August 2021, nearly two years after the September 2019 deadline.

"EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak is not a good steward of US taxpayer dollars and should never again receive funding from the US taxpayer," committee chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Oh, said in the May 2024 memo.

"Dr. Daszak and his organization conducted dangerous gain-of-function research at the [Wuhan Institute of Virology], willfully violated the terms of a multi-million-dollar NIH grant, and placed US national security at risk. This blatant contempt for the American people is reprehensible."

The period of debarment for EcoHealth Alliance is set to end on May 14, 2029, and Dr. Daszak’s debarment is set to end six days later on May 20, 2029.

DISGRACED ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE REAPED NEARLY $100M IN TAXPAYER FUNDS SINCE 2008

It was revealed in May that the disgraced research firm received nearly $100 million from the federal government over the last decade and a half.

From FY 2008 to FY 2024, the US government provided EcoHealth Alliance an estimated $94.3 million in taxpayer funds through contracts, grants, direct payments, loans and other financial assistance, according to a Fox News Digital review of government spending data provided by USAspending.gov.

A spokesperson for EcoHealth did not respond to a request for comment.

Kyle Morris contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: A pair of Republicans are introducing legislation that would offer service members who were fired over the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate a chance to get their jobs back and receive back pay. 

The AMERICANS Act, put forth by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and freshman Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., bans the Pentagon from instituting any additional COVID-19 vaccine mandates without congressional approval. 

It would offer reinstatement to any service member discharged solely for their refusal of the COVID vaccine and credit them for the time of their involuntary separation for retirement pay, 

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It would also restore the rank of anyone who was demoted over the vaccine mandate, offering them back pay and benefits for any compensation they lost as a result of their demotion. 

For those who do not want to rejoin service, it would restore their discharge to "honorable" to restore their GI Bill and health care benefits. 

In August 2021, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a requirement that troops take the COVID-19 jab for "readiness" purposes. That order was rescinded in January 2023 after lawmakers directed the Pentagon to do so in the annual defense policy bill Congress passed for that year. 

More than 8,400 troops were separated in the year and a half that the order was in effect. Thousands of others sought religious or medical exemptions. 

Austin’s repeal did not require the Pentagon to reinstate troops separated because of the mandate and stipulated that commanders would still have the authority to consider troops’ immunization status when making decisions on deployments or other assignments. He added that 96% of U.S. forces had taken the vaccine. 

"Our military is still dealing with the consequences of the Biden administration’s wrongful COVID-19 vaccine mandate," Cruz said in a statement. "The AMERICANS Act would provide remedies for servicemembers whom the Biden Department of Defense punished for standing by their convictions. It’s the right thing to do."

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"The Biden Administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate wasn’t about science or readiness—it was about control," said Harrigan. "As a Green Beret, I’ve seen the sacrifices our service members make firsthand, and I will not stand by while their honor is tarnished." 

The legislation is in line with a pledge President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, made on Tuesday to re-recruit those who parted ways with the military over the vaccine. 

"Service members who were kicked out because of the experimental vaccine," Hegseth told lawmakers, "they will be apologized to. They will be reinstituted with pay and rank."

Trump told supporters over the summer he would "rehire every patriot who was fired from the military" because of the mandate. 

Pentagon leadership considered offering back pay to troops after the vaccine mandate was rescinded in early 2023, but it never came to fruition.

Republicans have long railed against the vaccine mandate and the separations it caused, arguing it was a detriment to morale at a time of major recruitment issues. Pentagon leaders argued that their forces had been required to get vaccines for years, particularly if they deployed overseas. 

Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., isn’t playing around when it comes to bringing federal employees back to the office. In the committee’s first hearing of the 119th Congress, Comer delivered remarks slamming the Biden administration’s "failure" to get federal employees back to the office.

"When President Trump’s team enters federal agency headquarters in and around DC, they’ll find them to be mostly empty. That’s due to the Biden administration’s failure to end telework and to bring federal employees back to the office," Comer said.

While there are still a few days left in President Biden’s term, Washington is preparing itself for a shift ahead of President-elect Trump’s return to DC. According to the Oversight Committee’s report, which cites "the Biden-Harris Administration’s own data," as of May 2024, 1,057,000 telework-eligible federal employees were in-office three times a week, and another 228,000 remote employees "never come to the office at all."

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The report, titled "The lights are on, but everyone is at home: Why the new administration will enter largely vacant federal agency offices," is 41 pages and was prepared by Republicans on the committee. In its report, the committee makes the case that telework policies have been "detrimental" to government agencies.

In the hearing, Comer pointed the finger at Democrats, in particular, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-Ny. He slammed Schumer for allegedly letting the Show Up Act "collect dust." The legislation would bring federal employees’ telework back to "pre-pandemic levels."

HOUSE OVERSIGHT REPORT SAYS TELEWORK IS 'WASTING BILLIONS' IN TAXPAYER CASH AHEAD OF 1ST HEARING

"The Government Accountability Office found that 17 of the largest 24 federal agency headquarters in the DC area were less than 25% occupied, some much less than 25% occupied. A separate study by the Public Buildings Reform Board found that occupancy rates were just half that at 12%, 12% occupancy," Comer said at the hearing. "Taxpayer money is being wasted to lease and maintain all that expensive, empty office space."

The committee writes in its report that Trump is inheriting "a largely absentee workforce," blaming it on the telework policies "entrenched" by the Biden administration.

Comer also noted that the telework policy for federal workers has resulted in a "lack of foot traffic" that is "economically devastating" for DC, something Mayor Muriel Bowser has also pointed out. Bowser has been "imploring the White House to change" the telework policy for nearly two years.

In fact, the Democrat lawmaker met with President-elect Trump to discuss what could be done with the "underutilized federal buildings" around the city.

Bowser expressed optimism after the Dec. 30 meeting, saying both she and Trump "want Washington, DC to be the best, most beautiful city in the world and we want the capital city to reflect the strength of our nation."

The committee’s report acknowledges that Trump "invoked massive telework and remote work" at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and adds that he "quickly sought to return federal employees to their offices to deliver for the American people when it became clear that widespread, indiscriminate lockdowns were not the right societal answer to the pandemic."

Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Members of the U.S. intelligence community who believed that the coronavirus may have originated from a lab leak in China were blocked from sharing their opinions and research with the broader intel community, according to sources inside the FBI and other government officials familiar with the Biden administration's internal efforts during the pandemic.

In the first few months after COVID arrived in the U.S., the prevailing view within the Biden administration was that COVID-19 most likely originated organically in Wuhan, China, and was transferred to humans from infected animals. They said this was potentially due to the country's under-regulated and extensive wildlife trade. This viewpoint was opposed by a much smaller group within the intel community, who believed a purposeful or accidental lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was the likely cause of the outbreak. 

Now, it has come to light in a new Wall Street Journal report that some of those officials who believed in the likelihood of a COVID-19 lab-leak theory were reportedly blocked by the Biden administration from sharing their viewpoints with the president and other intelligence community leaders.

Early in Joe Biden's presidency, he tasked the U.S. intelligence community with preparing a report on their most updated analysis on the origins of the coronavirus. The report came amid China's blocking of U.S. officials' access to the Wuhan Institute, preventing them from adequately studying the virus' origins.

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At the time, the FBI was the only government agency concluding that a lab leak origin theory was most likely. 

Yet, according to FBI senior scientist Jason Bannan, who was tasked with helping lead the agency's investigation into COVID-19's origins, neither he nor any of his agency counterparts were invited to share their assessment during an August 2021 briefing with the president, led by the White House's National Intelligence Council, that sought to share the intel community's position on natural versus artificial origins of COVID-19.

"Being the only agency that assessed that a laboratory origin was more likely, and the agency that expressed the highest level of confidence in its analysis of the source of the pandemic, we anticipated the FBI would be asked to attend the briefing," Bannan told the Wall Street Journal. "I find it surprising that the White House didn’t ask."

Additionally, according to sources familiar with the matter, three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, a sub-agency within the Department of Defense's Defense Intelligence Agency, were also blocked from sharing their research that concluded the coronavirus originated from a lab leak. Ultimately, a Defense Intelligence Agency Inspector General report was commissioned to find out whether the three scientists' assessment was suppressed.

A spokesperson for the ODNI declined to comment on the report, which has yet to be released. 

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The three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, John Hardham, Robert Cutlip and Jean-Paul Chretien, argued that evidence they found had shown that Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were conducting dangerous "gain-of-function" research. In turn, the trio informed their counterparts, including someone at the FBI on Bannan's team, about their findings. However, in July 2021, the three scientists were told by their superiors to halt any continued sharing of their work with people at the FBI, which they were told was "off the reservation," the Wall Street Journal reported.

In response to the assertions made in the Wall Street Journal's report, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that the intelligence community-wide assessment of the origins of COVID-19 included input "from across the community on the two main hypotheses of the origins of the pandemic in line with all of the Intelligence Community’s analytic standards, including objectivity." 

The spokesperson added that efforts were made to ensure that both of these viewpoints were included in the intelligence assessment, in line with the "standard process" for typical coordination of a National Intelligence Council assessment.