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NIH official finally admits taxpayers funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan — after years of denials

It’s about time!

At long last, National Institutes of Health (NIH) principal deputy director Lawrence Tabak admitted to Congress Thursday that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China in the months and years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Dr. Tabak,” asked Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz.) of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, “did NIH fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through [Manhattan-based nonprofit] EcoHealth [Alliance]?”

“It depends on your definition of gain-of-function research,” Tabak answered. “If you’re speaking about the generic term, yes, we did.” ...

In an October 2021 letter to Congress, Tabak had acknowledged NIH funded a “limited experiment” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology that tested whether “spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model.”

He did not describe it as gain-of-function research — but disclosed that EcoHealth “failed to report” the bat coronaviruses modified with SARS and MERS viruses had been made 10,000 times more infectious, in violation of its grant terms.

The NIH scrubbed its website of a longstanding definition for gain-of-function research the same day that the letter was sent.

💉💉 Yesterday, as the solar energy continued swirling in Earth’s atmosphere, a top NIH official astonishingly admitted in open Congress that the agency did, indeed, fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan:

https://x.com/COVIDSelect/status/1791126478278553864

But Dr. Lawrence Tabak, NIH’s Deputy Director, also offered a Clintonesque defense, qualifying his breathtaking admission saying “it depends on what you mean by ‘gain of function.’” You could probably say that about anything. Try for yourself, it’s loads of fun.

The truth about Covid’s origins is finally coming out. Two of the key figures in the story of Covid’s origins gave away vital new information last week before the US Congress. One of these figures is Ralph Baric, the University of North Carolina professor who invented ingenious techniques for genetically altering coronaviruses. He effectively taught scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China how to do ‘gain of function’ experiments with bat-derived sarbecoviruses to make them more infectious or lethal in humanised mice. The other figure is Peter Daszak, the highly paid president of the non-profit, EcoHealth Alliance. Over many years, EcoHealth Alliance has channelled large sums of US taxpayer money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for ‘gain of function’ experimentation, and for finding new sarbecoviruses in bats.

Organization at center of ‘lab leak theory’ suspended from federal funds. The Department of Health and Human Services has suspended and initiated debarment proceedings against an organization after scrutiny of its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology revealed a failure to monitor a risky experiment on coronaviruses, failure to obtain lab notebooks from the Wuhan lab and a long delayed grant report describing the the collaboration’s research in the months before the pandemic. EcoHealth Alliance, helmed by president Peter Daszak, will be ineligible from receiving funds from the U.S. government. The suspension will stand until the debarment proceedings are complete.

Fauci aide allegedly boasted about ability to ‘make emails disappear’ including ‘smoking guns’. A longtime aide to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci allegedly boasted in emails about his ability to evade public records requests and his intention to delete any potential “smoking guns,” a congressional hearing revealed Thursday. The scrutiny of EcoHealth and NIAID has revealed that Daszak had a close connection to Fauci’s inner circle in the senior advisor to the NIAID director, David Morens. Morens told the committee in a transcribed interview that Daszak is one of his oldest friends. Now evidence has surfaced suggesting that Morens evaded the Freedom of Information Act — which requires that records from federal agencies be made public with limited exceptions — and that an unidentified public records official with the NIH helped him to do so.

Testimony from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Senior Scientific Advisor David Morens — a longtime aide to former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci — only deepened congressional concerns about the possibility of concealed or destroyed emails concerning connections between the institute and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

A memo and over 150 emails released by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Wednesday show that Morens spent considerable time and energy avoiding the Freedom of Information Act — a law that requires federal agency records to be provided to the public on request with limited exceptions.

Morens deleted sensitive emails, conducted official business on a private email account, and worked with an NIAID administrator in the Freedom of Information Office to strategically misspell keywords that the public might request to be searched, the committee alleges.

Morens sought to conceal emails in which he championed his close friend EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak, a scientist who subcontracted NIAID funding to the lab in Wuhan for experiments that made coronaviruses more deadly. Morens said that he and Daszak met twenty years ago and were part of the same close knit “fraternity” among emerging infectious diseases experts. ...

“I can either send stuff to Tony on his private email or hand it to him at work or at his house,” Morens emailed on April 21, 2021. “He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble.” ...

Other emails show Morens and Daszak strategizing about how to convey information to Fauci without leaving a paper trail.

Morens confirmed Wednesday that he discussed grants from NIAID to the Wuhan Institute of Virology with Fauci.

“I certainly told him some things that he asked me to tell him about the situation with Peter [Daszak],” Morens said.

That statement contradicts a transcribed interview Morens gave the committee earlier this year in which he said he did not recall discussing EcoHealth or the Wuhan lab with Fauci. ...

In addition, Morens wrote an email about the possibility of a “kickback” for helping to restore EcoHealth’s NIAID funding. He wrote profane emails that referred to binge drinking and sex, and made a remark about former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky wearing a skirt, raising concerns about his lack of professionalism and attitudes toward women. ...

Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., read out six separate emails in which Morens referred to avoiding FOIA. It took over three minutes to read every one. ...

Email evidence suggests Dr. Fauci used his personal email to conduct official business. This raises serious questions as to whether Dr. Fauci took part in a conspiracy amongst the highest levels of NIH to hide official records related to the origins of COVID-19. ...

The NIH FOIA office allegedly instructed Dr. Morens on how to delete federal records. Then, Dr. Morens admitted to deleting his correspondence with EcoHealth Alliance in an effort to shield himself from public transparency. Dr. Morens explains how he is able “to make emails disappear” and “learned the tricks” to avoid turning over documents from the head of NIH’s FOIA office. ...

Dr. Morens routinely instructed others, including EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak, to correspond with his personal email instead of his NIH email in an effort to avoid FOIA. This new discovery directly contradicts Dr. Morens’s testimony from his transcribed interview ...

Dr. Morens engaged in inappropriate and disrespectful behavior that is unbecoming of a representative of the United States Government. This concerning pattern suggests that Dr. Morens is not qualified to hold a position of public trust

Some call him “The Science,” a testament to his truly infallible predictive powers. His otherworldly prescience combined, of course, with his ability to dictate from his bureaucratic throne how you and I should live our lives.

Some have even tattooed his likeness on their arms, a permanent testament to the demigod that chose to save us…

Others see him as but a man, but a powerful man, a benevolent man of action who takes no fluff from his subordinates and gives no quarter to his enemies. The kind of man, you might say, that every man and woman could only one day dream of becoming…

And Then There’s Reality
Dr. Anthony Stephen Fauci is a fraud.

Was that clear enough? Blunt enough?

If recent revelations surrounding his toadies aren’t enough, we need merely look at his many failed predictions, his contradictions, and the pompous, highbrowed manner in which he ‘dismisses’ all who dare question Your Highness.

It would appear that Fauci’s inner (and outer) orbits made a conscious effort to hide and obfuscate some pretty important truths about all things COVID-19 from the public. ...

But what about that “secret back channel”? The one Fauci and co. used to avoid getting caught hiding, obfuscating, and steering the false narrative around all things COVID?




After all, can’t have them getting FOIA’d. Imagine if they were actually held accountable!

Hey, at least Congress has seemingly caught onto them - question is, what will be done?

But I digress, because there’s plenty of other proof of Fauci and his lackeys telling flat-out lies at worst, or at best, being completely and utterly inept for the supposed infallible Experts™ we were told they are.

Let’s dive into some of the most egregious bullshittery, a nice little retrospective on where we started and where we are…

WASHINGTON — Today, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a staff memorandum titled “Allegations of Wrongdoing and Illegal Activity by Dr. David Morens, Senior Advisor to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases former-Director, Dr. Anthony Fauci.” This memo presents overwhelming evidence from Dr. Morens’s own email that he engaged in serious misconduct and potentially illegal actions while serving as a Senior Advisor to Dr. Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic. The memo includes previously unreleased email correspondence, obtained by subpoena, that incriminates Dr. Morens in undermining the operations of the U.S. government, unlawfully deleting federal COVID-19 records, using a personal email to avoid the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and repeatedly acting unbecoming of a federal employee. Further, the memo reveals new emails suggesting Dr. Fauci was aware of Dr. Morens’s nefarious behavior and may have even engaged in federal records violations himself.

Imagine it’s the eve of D-Day in World War II.

The Allied troops urgently need 2 million doses of antibiotics for the wounds they will soon endure.

But Tony Fauci is in charge of the war effort. He decides that Billy Bob’s Patented Snake Oil is more profitable for his friends. So he blocks access to antibiotics and sends Billy Bob’s Patented Snake Oil to the front instead.

The D-Day invasion is a success but the Allied troops soon succumb in large numbers to their injuries. The Nazis win the war. Tony Fauci is rewarded with a job as head of Volk Health in the Pan German Reich.

That’s basically what happened with AIDS (when Fauci blocked access to Bactrim to create the market for AZT) and what happened with Covid (when Fauci blocked access to ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to create the market for Paxlovid, Remdesivir, and Covid vaccines).

It is absolutely shameful that this man is not already in jail. In an earlier era they would have called Fauci’s actions treason and prosecuted him accordingly.

It’s taken multiple FOIA lawsuits, but new newly disclosed NIH data shows the agency and its scientists collected an eye-watering $710 million in royalties, just during the pandemic, between late 2021 and the end of 2023. Up till now, the NIH refused to say how much in royalties its taxpayer-compensated scientists have earned, insisting there’s no law requiring them to disclose that, and citing public servants’ privacy (even though you had to disclose your jab status to buy a cheeseburger).

So, the very same people pushing jabs, lauding their safety and efficacy, and helping justify vaccine mandates, passports, and databases were raking it in the whole time, laughing all the way to the bank, earning multiples of their government-approved salaries in covid shot royalties.

Science!

In this case, we are not required to assume good faith on the part of greedy NIH scientists. It’s their job to avoid even the appearance of an ethical conflict. Having failed to do that, especially because they weren’t transparent about it, they appropriately deserve society’s sanction and harsh criticism.

No wonder they tried to bury it. The burden of proof has now shifted. The NIH must now convincingly demonstrate that it was not acting improperly, and did not let its financial incentives influence its scientific judgments and public health policies.

If NIH can’t prove that, it deserves the harshest possible sanction, especially given the life-and-death stakes.

But the scandal also raises essential questions about whether NIH scientists should receive royalties in the first place. I mean, what are we paying these people to do? If a scientist worked for a private boss, guess who gets the royalties for whatever the employee scientist invents? The boss does. That’s why he hired the scientist in the first place. Duh.

So why are NIH scientists entitled to royalties? Why aren’t NIH royalties paid back to the public treasury, since the taxpayers are the boss in this scenario?

Or, if not that, why are the inventions created using public funds not flowing into the public domain? Why should inventions be licensed to private pharma companies, with benefits flowing to government scientists? Why should the public pay on both ends - first to support the research and then again in the form of high prices and limited access for new drugs?

The NIH and its poachers-turned-game-wardens have a few good little earners there. Remind me again of the difference between big government and big pharma.

The disclosure of nearly a billion dollars in jab royalties shared by a couple hundred well-connected NIH government scientists exposes an unholy symbiosis between a captured agency and the industry it regulates, a shadow system tirelessly working behind a public façade, extracting wealth and freedom from duped citizens. The pandemic response, with its dire combination of corporate profiteering, administrative overreach, and the suppression of dissent, has exposed the workings of this infernal machine in stark detail.

Bless him, Senator Rand Paul is trying to fix the problem. His recently sponsored Royalty Transparency Act unanimously sailed through a bipartisan committee and will hopefully receive a prompt and favorable floor vote. In a burst of common sense, it would require government employees to disclose any royalties they receive.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

But even more than new laws and stricter ethics rules, what we need most is a renewal of the ethic of public service — the idea that government employment is a sacred trust, not a self-dealing hunting license. We need uncorrupted public officials who would never dream of trading on their offices for private enrichment, who understand the basic, timeworn notion that even the appearance of impropriety is a stain on their personal honor and on the integrity of the public institutions they steward.

Still, the disclosure of these rotten regulators and Senator Paul’s transparency bill are progress, even if long-overdue, and even if only in fits and starts.

Fauci & Co. need to pay a price for funding Wuhan lab research — and trying to cover it up

Fauci’s institute hid mpox gain-of-function plans from Congress and the media

For nearly nine years Anthony Fauci’s institute concealed plans to engineer a pandemic capable mpox virus with a case fatality rate of up to 15 percent, congressional investigators revealed in a new report Tuesday.

In June 2015, a scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases received formal approval from the National Institutes of Health’s Institutional Review Board for experiments expected to engineer an mpox virus with high transmissibility and moderate mortality.

NIAID — the institute Fauci oversaw for nearly four decades and which underwrites most federally funded gain-of-function research — concealed the project’s approval from investigators with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce over the course of a 17 month-long investigation.

A new interim report describes the obstruction and secrecy around the mpox proposal as a case study in how the institute “oversees and accounts for the monitoring of potentially dangerous gain-of-function research of concern.”

The revelations land amid global concerns about whether coronavirus gain-of-function research — research that might generate pathogens with increased pathogenicity or transmissibility — may have contributed to the worst pandemic in a century.

The committee, in conjunction with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, is also investigating coronavirus gain-of-function research underwritten by NIAID at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and faces similar stonewalling in that investigation, a committee aide said.

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/study-finds-more-americans-trust-dr-pepper-than-dr-fauci



Posted before, I think, but worth posting again.

During the investigation, the HHS and the NIH repeatedly promised the Committee that the dangerous mpox experiments had never ever been formally proposed, planned, approved, or conducted, and were never even under serious consideration. But the House report concluded those “repeated assertions were false.”

So now, suddenly and unexpectedly, the NIH has been infected with a lack of trust.

According to the Committee report, amidst a long list of woeful but unsurprising findings, a list more painful to read than a nether-region mpox sore, it revealed that the human cockroach Fauci’s agency, the NIAID, is a law unto itself:




It’s unclear exactly who needs to hear this, but a “culture of secrecy and obfuscation” is just what you don’t want in a public health agency. And, note that an organization’s culture is downstream from management. Just saying.

https://babylonbee.com/cleanArticle/study-finds-more-americans-trust-dr-pepper-than-dr-fauci



Posted before, I think, but worth posting again.

@McCulloughFund
BREAKING - Criminal referral requests against Anthony Fauci and other public health officials have been submitted to District Attorneys in Louisiana.

"The criminal referrals accuse Dr. Fauci, current and former federal officers, and hospital systems providing care within Louisiana of committing crimes per Louisiana criminal code, including:  Terrorism – by Causing Intentional Killing or Infliction of Serious Bodily Injury, La. R.S. 14:128.1(A)  First Degree Murder, La. R.S. 14:30  Second Degree Murder, La. R.S. 14:30.1  Manslaughter, La. R.S. 14:31(A)(3)  Human Trafficking, La. R.S. 14:46.2 2  Prohibited Racketeering Acts, La. R.S. 15:1353  Cruelty to Persons with Infirmities, La. R.S. 14:93.3  False Imprisonment, La. R.S. 14:46  Second Degree Kidnapping, La. R.S. 14:44.1  Battery, La. R.S. 14:33  Simple Battery of Persons with Infirmities, La. R.S. 14:35.2"

Dr Anthony Fauci's department hid plans to create mutant monkeypox virus that 'could've started pandemic,' bombshell Congress report finds

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) submitted plans to create a more transmissible and more lethal strain of Mpox in 2015, when Dr Fauci was still in charge of the agency.

The plans only received widespread attention in late 2022 - amid concerns that Covid may have been borne out of similar experiments using US government grant money in China.

Fauci doesn’t know anything really about anything and I’d say it to his face. He doesn’t understand medicine. He should not be in the position he is in.

Tony Fauci does not mind going on television in front of the people who pay his salary and lie directly into the camera.

You can’t expect the sheep to really respect the best and brightest. They don’t know the difference really. I like humans, don’t get me wrong, but basically, the vast majority of them do not posses the ability to judge who is and who isn’t a really good scientist. That’s the main problem actually with science in this century.

There are no old wise men up on the top making sure that we don’t do something really dumb.

The Academy of Science is just a bunch of idiots just like everybody else.