CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS ‘CREDIBLY’ SUGGEST COVID AROSE FROM WUHAN LAB LEAK COVERED BY PCC: HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE
According to HHS, EcoHealth intentionally violated a multimillion-dollar grant from the National Institute of Health.
A spokesperson for EcoHealth Alliance told Fox News Digital that it “is disappointed with today’s HHS resolution and will challenge the proposed exclusion. ”
“We strongly disagree with the resolution and will provide evidence to refute each of those allegations and to demonstrate that NIH’s continuation of EcoHealth Alliance is in the public interest,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The House COVID subcommittee, in its reaction Wednesday, said those were “not movements by any organization or individual continuing to get taxpayer funding. ”
Peter Daszak and members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of COVID-19 arrive at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP Getty Images)
“EcoHealth Alliance and [EcoHealth President] Dr. Peter Daszak deserve to never receive a single penny from the American taxpayer again,” committee chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, said Wednesday. “EcoHealth facilitated gain-of-function studies in Wuhan, China, without proper oversight, intentionally violated several needs of its multimillion-dollar grant to the National Institutes of Health, and allegedly sent false messages to the NIH. ”
Wenstrup added that such moves are “utterly abhorrent, indefensible and will have to be met with swift action. ”
“The early suspension of investments for EcoHealth and its long-term exclusion is only a victory for the American taxpayer, but also for American national security and the protection of citizens around the world,” Wenstrup said.
A body of security workers stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Wuhan, as a member of the WHO visiting team investigating the origins of COVID-19, visiting on February 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP a via Getty Images)
Wenstrup’s committee, with Democratic lawmakers on the panel, had Daszak testify publicly earlier this month.
Fox News Digital has reported in the past that EcoHealth Alliance won millions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Taxpayers’ budget has been funneled to Chinese entities conducting studies on the coronavirus through the EcoHealth Alliance.
That money — at least $600,000 — was redirected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and earmarked for studies to assess the transmission of coronaviruses from bats to humans. The studies included RNA extractions and DNA sequencing in bat samples, as well as biological experiments on the spread of pathogens. from bats to humans.
Peter Daszak, WHO member investigating the origins of COVID-19, in Wuhan, China, February 3, 2021. (Reuters/Thomas Peter/File Photo)
U. S. taxpayer budget went to Chinese entities conducting coronavirus research before COVID pandemic: GAO
EcoHealth Alliance also won more than $200,000 that was redirected to Wuhan University for disease surveillance study activities, adding the collection of biological samples from other people in China with high degrees of bat exposure so that the Wuhan Institute of Virology can conduct additional testing.
Former U. S. government officials, such as former NIH Director Francis Collins, have said that U. S. taxpayer money is approved for gain-of-function studies, that is, studies that try to modify a virus to make it more infectious in humans.
ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE PRESIDENT WITNESSES COVID ORIGINS AND TAXPAYER-FUNDED WUHAN LAB RESEARCH
The U. S. Department of Energy and the FBI have decided that COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak in China.
Rep. Brad Wenstrup leaves a House Republican Conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club on July 26, 2023 (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc Getty Images).
Meanwhile, Wenstrup says his commission’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and EcoHealth “is over. ”
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“Dr. Daszak and his team have yet to submit all notable documents and respond under oath to the subcommittee’s questions, particularly similar to Dr. Daszak’s possible dishonesty,” he said. “We will hold EcoHealth accountable for all waste, fraud, and abuse and are committed to uncovering any illegal activity, adding lies to Congress, the NIH, or the Inspector General. ”
Brooke Singman is a political correspondent and reporter for Fox News Digital, Fox News Channel and FOX Business.