Don't forget government-led research is how Covid started in the first place - our tax money was used to fund the creation of the virus.
Science creates more and more powerful tools, but scientific progress is not something innately good. The powerful tools can be used for good or bad (nukes, climate disruptions, synthesis of new viruses).
In this case, we gave money to someone playing with fire. I'm not going to go as far as implying a malicious intent - but neither I'm ruling out pyromaniacs.