EcoHealth Alliance President Grilled by Congress Over Wuhan Lab Funding and Alleged Misconduct

A congressional hearing on Wednesday exposed glaring inconsistencies between a GOP report and statements made by EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak concerning his organization's involvement in funding controversial research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) before the global health crisis. Daszak denied knowledge of any connection between the WIV and China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), despite a declassified DNI report documenting such links. EcoHealth Alliance also faced scrutiny for failing to submit a crucial year five progress report to the NIH by the September 30, 2019 deadline. Daszak claimed they were "locked out" of the NIH system, but an NIH forensic audit could not verify this claim. Significant discrepancies were found between the initial draft and the final version of the report, which was submitted nearly two years late in August 2021. Furthermore, Daszak vehemently denied accusations of EcoHealth Alliance engaging in gain-of-function research, challenging the subcommittee members' definitions while claiming he lacked a personal definition.

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The GOP report alleged wrongdoing by EcoHealth Alliance throughout its coronavirus research, with several details conflicting with Daszak's statements from a closed-door interview with House members in November.

Daszak claimed he was unaware of any affiliation between the WIV and China's military, the People's Liberation Army (PLA), stating, "I've never seen any. I've never seen any reliable reporting of any." However, the DNI, whom Daszak admitted to being interviewed by, thoroughly documented the connections between WIV and PLA in a declassified report.

EcoHealth Alliance's failure to submit a required year five progress report to the NIH by the September 30, 2019 deadline. Daszak claimed EcoHealth attempted to submit the report but was "locked out" of the NIH system. However, an NIH forensic audit "could not verify the claim."
Discrepancies between the initial draft of the year five progress report and the version ultimately submitted to NIH in August 2021, nearly two years after the original deadline.

Daszak emphatically denied accusations that EcoHealth Alliance engaged in gain-of-function research, claiming, "EcoHealth Alliance never has, and did not do gain of function research, by definition." However, he challenged multiple subcommittee members' definitions of gain-of-function research and claimed he didn't have a personal definition.

The hearing also touched upon the issue of Big Tech censorship of factual information related to the pandemic. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, referenced the federal government's efforts to pressure social media companies to censor posts containing accurate information. When asked whether he thought the government's collusion with Big Tech to "ban" certain scientific analyses "benefited science," Daszak refused to provide a straightforward answer, instead stating, "I think there's been a lot of misinformation, there still is, on social media. I think it's good that social media companies are going to scientists to get information about whether the data they're putting out is true or false."

The hearing also delved into the issue of potential coercion by the Biden White House to suppress information related to the lab-leak theory. Emails released as part of an 800-page report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government revealed Facebook officials expressing frustration with the pressure they felt from the Biden administration. In one email dated July 2021, Facebook's President of Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, described the White House as "highly cynical and dishonest."
The emails showed that Facebook had censored reports suggesting the virus was "man-made" from February through May 2021, before transitioning to demoting such reports instead. When questioned about why the company removed these reports, a Facebook team member admitted, "Because we were under pressure from the administration and others to do more and it was part of the 'more' package. We shouldn't have done it."