(READ) Republicans pressure HHS to release docs U.S. grant money funneled to China Lab

The lead Republican on the House Oversight Committee, James Comer (R-Kentucky) and other Republican lawmakers have renewed a request to Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Acting Director Lawrence Tabak to provide all documents and communications about a grant of taxpayer dollars awarded to EcoHealth Alliance.

EcoHealth Alliance, in turn, provided funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China to study bat coronaviruses. That lab is the focus of ongoing investigations into whether Covid-19 may have originated there and leaked out.

The Republicans are also calling for all documents and communications about an alleged coordinated effort by top government health officials to conceal information about Covid-19 originating from the WIV and to downplay that theory.

“By continuing to refuse to cooperate with our request, HHS and NIH are choosing to hide information that will help inform the origins of the ongoing pandemic, prevent future pandemics, strengthen the United States’ national security posture, and restore confidence in our public health experts and infrastructure. The agencies’ continued obstruction is likely to cause irreparable harm to the credibility of these institutions. By providing the requested documents and information, HHS and NIH will have the opportunity to help our country move forward in a positive, transparent direction following the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote the lawmakers.
Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) and Republican lawmakers

The Republicans have invoked a unique statutory authority that requires executive agencies to provide any information to the Oversight Committee when requested by any seven members of the Committee. The lawmakers first invoked this authority on July 15, 2021 for its Covid origins investigation.

The letter to HHS and NIH can be read here.

Pasted Letter below:

Dear Secretary Becerra and Acting Director Tabak:

Dr. Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. Acting Director
National Institutes of Health
9000 Rockville Pike

Rockville, MD 20892

February 2, 2022

On May 28, 2021, we wrote former Director Francis Collins requesting documents regarding the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2014 grant awarded to EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. (EcoHealth).1 The subgrantee was the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). NIH failed to produce a single document responsive to that first request. On July 15, 2021, we again wrote to NIH, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. §2954, requesting the same documents and information previously requested on May 28, 2021 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the Requests”).2 To date, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and NIH have refused to produce any responsive documents or information not previously or immediately thereafter made public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. This request is urgent as no one disputes the necessity of understanding the origins of the ongoing pandemic.

A series of events documented in communications from February to April 2020 raise serious concerns about conflicts of interest and abuse of government resources. On February 1, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Francis Collins, and at least eleven other scientists convened a conference call to discuss COVID-19.3 On this conference call, Drs. Fauci and Collins were first warned by top virologists that COVID-19 may have leaked from the WIV, and further, may have been intentionally genetically manipulated. It is unclear if either Dr. Fauci or Dr. Collins ever passed these warnings along to other government officials or if they simply ignored them.

1 Letter from Hon. James Comer, Ranking Member, H. Comm. on Oversight & Reform, and Hon. Jim Jordan, Ranking Member, H. Comm. on the Judiciary, to Hon. Francis Collins, Director, U.S. Nat’l Insts. Of Health, and Anthony Fauci, Director, Nat’l Inst. Of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (May 28, 2021).
2 Letter from Hon. James Comer, et. al., Ranking Member, H. Comm. on Oversight & Reform, to Hon. Francis Collins, Director, U.S. Nat’l Insts. Of Health, and Anthony Fauci, Director, Nat’l Inst. Of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (July 15, 2021).

3 Email from Jeremy Farrar to Anthony Fauci, et. al. (Feb. 1, 2020) (On file with Comm. Staff).

The Honorable Xavier Becerra
Dr. Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. February 2, 2022
Page 2

On February 4, 2020, six participants of the conference call—who warned about the likelihood of a lab leak just three days earlier—authored or were involved with a paper entitled, “The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2.” The paper dismissed their previously held lab leak theory, and a first draft was sent to Drs. Fauci and Collins.4 Prior to final publication in Nature Medicine, the paper was sent to Dr. Fauci for editing and approval.5 It is unclear whether Drs. Collins or Fauci edited the paper. It is also unclear if any new evidence was presented or if the underlying science suddenly changed. But it is clear that after speaking with Drs. Fauci and Collins, the authors abandoned their belief COVID-19 was the result of a laboratory leak.

On April 16, 2020, a few months after the original conference call, Dr. Collins emailed Dr. Fauci expressing dismay that the Nature Medicine article—which they saw prior to publication and were given the opportunity to edit—did not squash the lab leak hypothesis and asked if the NIH can do more to “put down” the lab leak hypothesis.6 The next day, Dr. Fauci cited the Nature Medicine paper from the White House podium in an effort to further stifle the hypothesis COVID-19 leaked from the WIV.7

Since our July 15, 2021, request invoking §2954, Republican Committee staff have provided the following accommodations to HHS and NIH: time extensions, reducing the scope of the request, prioritizing certain documents, and engaging in in camera review of certain documents.8 Throughout this time, Republican Committee staff made clear to HHS staff that Committee Republicans may, at a later date, request full, unredacted copies of the documents reviewed in camera and all other documents responsive to the Requests.9

4 Email from Jeremy Farrar to Anthony Fauci & Francis Collins (Feb. 4, 2020) (On file with Comm. Staff)
5 Email from Kristian Andersen to Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins, & Jeremy Farrar (Mar. 6, 2020) (On file with Comm. staff).
6 Email from Francis Collins to Anthony Fauci, et. al. (Apr. 16, 2020) (On file with Comm. Staff).
7 John Haltiwanger, Dr. Fauci throws cold water on conspiracy theory that coronavirus was created in a Chinese lab, BLOOMBERG (Apr. 18, 2020).
8 Email from Republican Comm. Staff to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (July 29, 2021 07:53 p.m.) (“For the productions, please prioritize the 15 unredacted documents that were previously released over FOIA.”); Email from U.S. Dept’ of Health & Human Servs. To Republican Comm. Staff (Sept. 9, 2021) (“I think we can move forward scheduling the in camera next week.”); Email from Republican Comm. Staff to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Oct. 15, 2021) (“Today, as an accommodation to HHS, we are narrowing that request to the documents listed below and the attachment mentioned in NIH-002160, if HHS has custody and control of that attachment.”); Email from Republican Comm. Staff to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Oct. 28, 2021) (“…we would preliminary like to schedule an in camera review of the documents listed in (2) below for early next week.”).
9 In camera review (Sept. 16, 2021) (Comm. staff reiterated to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. the Committee’s request for physical, unredacted documents.); Email from Republican Comm. Staff to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Sept. 20, 2021) (“Just wanted to check in on the production of the unredacted set of documents we reviewed on Thursday.”); Email from Republican Comm. Staff to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Oct. 15, 2021) (“After the in camera review of the documents requested pursuant to Ranking Member Comer and other Committee Members’ July 15, 2021 Sec. 2954 letter, we requested HHS produce unredacted physical copies of those documents reviewed.”) Id. (“However, we reserve the right to request a full and complete production as requested on July 15.”); Email from Republican Comm. Staff to U.S. Dep’t of Health & Human Servs. (Oct. 28, 2021) (“As discussed, reserving our right to request physical copies of all documents below as they are responsive to the Committee’s July 15 letter…”).

The Honorable Xavier Becerra
Dr. Lawrence Tabak, D.D.S., Ph.D. February 2, 2022
Page 3

Rather than be transparent with Committee Republicans, HHS and NIH have chosen to hide, obfuscate, and shield the truth. This stonewalling is particularly troubling considering NIH’s direct involvement in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the agency’s policy or practice to destroy potentially pertinent documents related to grant making decisions. For example, we know that an NIH advisor was forced by NIH to shred notes and other documents pertaining to the WIV grants as early as 2014.10

By continuing to refuse to cooperate with our request, HHS and NIH are choosing to hide information that will help inform the origins of the ongoing pandemic, prevent future pandemics, strengthen the United States’ national security posture, and restore confidence in our public health experts and infrastructure. The agencies’ continued obstruction is likely to cause irreparable harm to the credibility of these institutions. By providing the requested documents and information, HHS and NIH will have the opportunity to help our country move forward in a positive, transparent direction following the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an additional accommodation, we are providing more specificity to our original Requests. Therefore, we request the documents and information listed in the Appendix as soon as possible but no later than February 16, 2022. If HHS and NIH are unable to meet this deadline, please contact Committee Republican staff as soon as possible.

Thank you for your attention to this important inquiry. Sincerely, (Members)