NIH Director Shredded Over Risky Research In Wuhan After CNN Interview Goes Sideways

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NIH Director Shredded Over Risky Research In Wuhan After CNN Interview Goes Sideways (www.zerohedge.com)

In a blistering Sunday night interview, CNN's Pamela Brown (credit where it's due) absolutely grilled Collins over the NIH's funding of New York-based nonprofit, EcoHealth alliance, which performed textbook Gain of Function research - genetically engineering bat coronaviruses so they can infect humans. Last week the NIH admitted that EcoHealth violated the terms of a grant by failing to report their achievement (which EcoHealth denies), sending both Fauci and Collins into full damage control over the weekend.

Now, the official story is that while EcoHealth violated their contract, and are allegedly 'in trouble' for failing to report their achievement, the NIH and NIAID (Collins and Fauci) maintain that the research still wasn't risky enough to qualify for enhanced oversight.

CNN's Brown didn't let Collins get away with his carefully crafted talking points - repeatedly pressing him over what else the NIH may be funding that they don't know about, and asking why the American people should trust them after last week's revelation.

Breaking down the interview is Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin - who in March revealed in his book: "Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century" that the (NIH) "had funded a number of projects that involved WIV scientists, including much of the Wuhan lab's work with bat coronaviruses." In April, Rogin revealed that in 2018, diplomats with the US State Department warned over safety issues at Wuhan labs studying bat COVID. In short - few journalists are as qualified as Rogin to opine on what's going on.

Jumping right into it (video at the bottom): https://rumble.com/vo9kp6-francis-collins-1024-interview-full.html

Brown repeatedly presses Collins to explain how NIH could not know FOR TWO YEARS that its own contractor @EcoHealthNYC had done research making bat coronaviruses more infectious to humans, and Collins uses every rhetoric trick to dissemble and distract... I'll explain...

Fauci claimed no "Gain of Function research was being funded in Wuhan.

Brown to Collins: “How could [Fauci] say that when you are just now finding out that US taxpayer dollars were being used to pay for this risky research in that Wuhan lab two years ago?" GOOD QUESTION

Collins tries to go down a rabbit hole semantic debate about the definition of gain of function (this is his usual filibuster tactic), but Brown stops him and asks the direct question again:

Brown: “EcoHealth Alliance violated the terms of its contract... So the question is.. How can you know what this money is going toward… in places the Wuhan lab if you are just now finding this out from EcoHealth Alliance, how the US taxpayer dollars were being used?" EXACTLY.

Collins acknowledges EcoHealth violated its contract but then says, weirdly:

"Yes, they did some things they should have told us about, but they did not do the kind of Gain of Function research that requires special, high level oversight." WTAF?

The whole point of the NIH letter to Congress was that if EcoHealth HAD reported its research results, it WOULD HAVE triggered the extra, high level oversight. Why is Collins pretending he knows they would have been exempt from that?

While most corporate media outlets are throwing softballs at Dr. Anthony Fauci over revelations that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded risky gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, Fauci's 'boss' - NIH Director Francis Collins - wasn't so lucky. In a blistering Sunday night interview, CNN's Pamela Brown (credit where it's due) absolutely grilled Collins over the NIH's funding of New York-based nonprofit, EcoHealth alliance, which performed textbook Gain of Function research - genetically engineering bat coronaviruses so they can infect humans. Last week the NIH admitted that EcoHealth violated the terms of a grant by failing to report their achievement (which EcoHealth denies), sending both Fauci and Collins into full damage control over the weekend. Now, the official story is that while EcoHealth violated their contract, and are allegedly 'in trouble' for failing to report their achievement, the NIH and NIAID (Collins and Fauci) maintain that the research still wasn't risky enough to qualify for enhanced oversight. CNN's Brown didn't let Collins get away with his carefully crafted talking points - repeatedly pressing him over what else the NIH may be funding that they don't know about, and asking why the American people should trust them after last week's revelation. Breaking down the interview is Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin - who in March revealed in his book: "Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the Twenty-First Century" that the (NIH) "had funded a number of projects that involved WIV scientists, including much of the Wuhan lab's work with bat coronaviruses." In April, Rogin revealed that in 2018, diplomats with the US State Department warned over safety issues at Wuhan labs studying bat COVID. In short - few journalists are as qualified as Rogin to opine on what's going on. Jumping right into it (video at the bottom): https://rumble.com/vo9kp6-francis-collins-1024-interview-full.html Brown repeatedly presses Collins to explain how NIH could not know FOR TWO YEARS that its own contractor @EcoHealthNYC had done research making bat coronaviruses more infectious to humans, and Collins uses every rhetoric trick to dissemble and distract... I'll explain... Fauci claimed no "Gain of Function research was being funded in Wuhan. Brown to Collins: “How could [Fauci] say that when you are just now finding out that US taxpayer dollars were being used to pay for this risky research in that Wuhan lab two years ago?" GOOD QUESTION Collins tries to go down a rabbit hole semantic debate about the definition of gain of function (this is his usual filibuster tactic), but Brown stops him and asks the direct question again: Brown: “EcoHealth Alliance violated the terms of its contract... So the question is.. How can you know what this money is going toward… in places the Wuhan lab if you are just now finding this out from EcoHealth Alliance, how the US taxpayer dollars were being used?" EXACTLY. Collins acknowledges EcoHealth violated its contract but then says, weirdly: "Yes, they did some things they should have told us about, but they did not do the kind of Gain of Function research that requires special, high level oversight." WTAF? The whole point of the NIH letter to Congress was that if EcoHealth HAD reported its research results, it WOULD HAVE triggered the extra, high level oversight. Why is Collins pretending he knows they would have been exempt from that?

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