BREAKING: State Dept. Continues to Fund Programs Which Might Have Caused Pandemic. VIDEO: Claims it Was Funding "Biosafety" and Claims Examination is "Conspiracy Theory"
When questioned re refusing to disclose info re funding EcoHealth Alliance, Ralph Baric & the Wuhan Institute of Virology, USAID representative walks off the stage, Ned Price stonewalls questioning.
This posting has been updated with a transcript, below. Original posting is here, the word “PREDICT” has been removed from the headline, but the substance stands.
The March 9 news conference began with an overview of the FY 2024 budget request for the State Department and USAID. At one point, Paloma Adams-Allen, USAID deputy administrator for management and resources, while going through a litany of programs, referred to "745 million for USAID to prepare for, prevent, detect, and respond to future infectious disease threats." I had misheard this as a direct reference to PREDICT, which funded EcoHealth Alliance and which I asked about last month and never received an answer, so I asked about it. Apparently USAID is requesting more funding for this kind of work, likely through a successor program. PREDICT was reported to have had its funding cut roughly around the time of the emergence of Covid, in late October 2019. Still, Adams-Allen below says she will provide a response to the question of how much PREDICT is getting. Pete Lincoln and Emily Koop noted after my initial posting that USAID has a replacement program called DEEP VZN (Discovery and Exploration of Emerging Pathogens — Viral Zoonoses) which USAID announced in 2019 would get $125 million. Prof. Richard Ebright has highlighted this program. Adams-Allen’s remarks indicate that this program and/or possibly others like it are slated for significantly more money. There’s also Strategies to Prevent Spillover (STOP Spillover). I will report if and when I get a written response from State/USAID.
HUSSEINI: About the PREDICT program, yes? DNI [Director of National Intelligence] is set to declassify from 18 agencies, including State [Bureau of Intelligence and Research], information that indicts the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but not other information which might indict other institutions, including U.S. institutions. I asked last month about USAID’s PREDICT program funding bioweapons agents discovery research through EcoHealth Alliance. You funded such bioweapon agents discovery research done by Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Meanwhile, USAID has not released unclassified information as FOIA’d by U.S. Right To Know, a transparency group, from 2020 — going on three years — causing the group to start litigation against USAID. [PDF]
Question: Why does USAID fund bioweapons agents discovery research? In particular, why has USAID funded bioweapons agents discovery research performed in collaboration with China, which may have caused the pandemic?
ADAMS-ALLEN: You want to take that one?
NED PRICE [State Dept. spokesperson]: Sure. Thank you both very much, Deputy Secretary, Deputy Administrator.
ADAMS-ALLEN: Yes, thank you.
PRICE: Thank you very much for —
HUSSEINI: Are you going to answer the question?
PRICE: — for your time.
HUSSEINI: Talk about the PREDICT program. How much are you funding the PREDICT program this year?
ADAMS-ALLEN: I’m happy to get you a response on that.
PRICE: We can —
HUSSEINI: Can you say how much you’re funding a program that could have caused the pandemic?
PRICE: We can respond in writing on a question that specific.
HUSSEINI: In writing? I’m not asking about some obscure subject, Ned. I’m asking about –
PRICE: We – Sam, thanks.
HUSSEINI: — a program that you ran, that you continue to run, that could have caused the pandemic. Can you answer? Can she answer? She’s walking out of the room.
PRICE: Sam, our – what we fund around the world is biosafety programs. We are working around the world with partners to prevent the sort of thing that we have suffered over the course of the past two years.
HUSSEINI: [inaudible]
PRICE: Now, there is an effort underway, as we’ve talked about, to determine the origins of Covid-19. That is an effort that lives with the Intelligence Community. You heard from our Intelligence Community leaders last – yesterday the current state of those assessments. We’re going to let them speak to the assessments. The short answer is we don’t know the origins of Covid-19. There are two primary theories; our Intelligence Community continues to look into that.
But our priority around the world when it comes to our funding, and including when it comes to the program you’re referencing, is biosafety, Sam. I’ve —
HUSSEINI: Ned, you may well know –
PRICE: Sam, we need —
HUSSEINI: — and may well have the information, but you’re refusing to disclose it. Why —
PRICE: Sam, I ask that you be respectful to your colleagues.
HUSSEINI: I asked last month, why have you refused to disclose information to U.S. Right To Know? They FOIA’d documents relevant to this issue in 2020 — going on three years. They’re in litigation, and you want to hide this fact. You and the rest of the U.S. government wants to pin this solely on the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and you –
PRICE: Sam, I would ask that you be respectful of your colleagues.
HUSSEINI: I am being very respectful.
PRICE: You’re not, in fact.
HUSSEINI: I’m being respectful of all of the people and all of the suffering from the pandemic. Will you release the information?
PRICE: Sam, as –
HUSSEINI: Why are you continuing to fund a program that could have caused the pandemic?
PRICE: Sam, as I told you last time, you are welcome to send these types of detailed questions in writing —
HUSSEINI: I did that last month, and I haven’t received anything.
PRICE: — and we will get back to you. Let –
HUSSEINI: You’ll get back to me? After the Senate passes a resolution saying we’re going to put out all the information on the Wuhan Institute of Virology and none of the other information. It’s deny and delay.
PRICE: Sam, we need to –
HUSSEINI: It’s deny and delay. And meanwhile, you’re endangering the world with these programs.
PRICE: Let me start with one thing at the top, and then we’ll –
HUSSEINI: And you’re smiling.
PRICE: Sam, because you’re engaging in conspiracy theories. And these –
HUSSEINI: It’s not a conspiracy. That’s the exact same rhetoric that we got three years ago. “Oh, it couldn’t come out of a lab; it’s a conspiracy.” Bunk. Bunk.
PRICE: Okay, Sam. I —
HUSSEINI: Release the documents. Why aren’t you releasing the documents, Ned?
PRICE: I think your colleagues here – I think your colleagues want to hear about and ask about matters that are not conspiratorial, that are in fact –
HUSSEINI: This is absurd. It’s absurd after all we’ve been through, after all we’ve been through and after all of the government’s denies and delays about Covid origins, that you’re saying –
PRICE: Sam –
HUSSEINI: — that it’s a conspiracy theory when all I asked, I asked last month — Why aren’t you releasing the documents — and you’re not releasing the documents. And meanwhile, the DNI –
PRICE: We will take – as I said before, we will take a look at the specific question you asked, and we’ll get back to you. I don’t want to waste any more of your colleagues’ time.
HUSSEINI: “Waste.” “Waste.”
Video of full news conference at State and C-SPAN. State's full transcript.
Background — recent especially relevant pieces:
“USAID Funded EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology, Is Withholding Information”
“Crucial Points on Pandemic Origins Debate, Part 2: The Weaponization of ‘Truth’"
“Now: Hearing on Covid Origins; Interview with Straight Talk MD”
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From April 2020: "Contrary to claims, the pandemic may have come from a lab — and regardless, it exposes the threat of biowarfare arms race."
From Dec. 2020: “Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance Has Hidden Almost $40 Million In Pentagon Funding And Militarized Pandemic Science” — documents even more money to EcoHealth from USAID.
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Some may not like the emotional tone of my questioning. It reminded me of my being on O’Reilly two days after 9/11. Infer from that what you will.
GREAT GOING, Sam. Your friends and colleagues (your team) are bursting with pride in you. Sue
Sam -
Thanks from all of us for the work you're doing. Is there anyone else in the press corps who is challenging Price the way you do? I'm thinking of Helen Thomas. Maybe you can channel her chutzpah and her incisiveness.
I like to think you're part of a team that has your back. You've got a lot of readers behind you, appreciating your courage.
- Josh