Host: So what I’m interested in this morning is that you’re working on the virus right now.
Montagnier: I’m working, but not necessarily in the lab. Work is done on the computer with a colleague... We don’t do experiments, but we collect data from the disease itself, from all the measurements that are being done in the labs right now on the patients.
Host: —And you came to certain conclusions.
Montagnier: So, you could say that I came to the conclusion that there actually has been manipulation done on this virus.
Host: What do you mean?
Montagnier: Well, some of it, I’m not saying all of it, y’know. There’s a part which is obviously the classic virus and there’s another mainly coming from the bat, but that part has added sequences, particularly from HIV. The AIDS virus.
Host: But when you say added, who added it?
Montagnier: I don’t know... It’s not natural... It was a professional job. It was a job for molecular biologists. It’s a very meticulous job... You could say clockwork of sequences.
Host: So, with what goal?
Montagnier: It’s not clear what the goal is. I’m not exposing it. If you like, my job is to expose the facts, that’s all. I’m not accusing anyone. I don’t know who did it or why. There is a possibility that maybe they wanted to make —we don’t know who “they” are — but they wanted to make an AIDS vaccine. So a small sequence of the virus is taken and put into the larger coronavirus sequence.
Host: I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. You mean, in this virus, there’s a bit of HIV.
Montagnier: —That’s it. The genetic material of the virus is a long ribbon of RNA... and in this long ribbon at a certain place someone placed a small sequence of HIV... they have the possibility of modifying, for example, something called antigenic sites. So that means, if we want to make a vaccine, we can very well modify the protein for the vaccine by adding a small sequence from another virus.
Host: Are you certain? Because I think that was a rumor... and it was then refuted by most scientific authorities anyway.
Montagnier: There’s still a willingness to stifle it... A very, very, very famous Indian research group had published the same thing and they were forced to retract it... You see, I’m aged out. I’m a Nobel Prize winner and I can work freely. So there’s no pressure on me to do anything.
