BREAKING VIDEO: State Dept. Won't Answer: "Did USAID fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology?"

State Dept. continues to stonewall the most basic, critical questions around their funding of lab work that may have caused the pandemic.

[I recently had a discussion with Ryan Cristián of The Last American Vagabond. I got into some of the behind-the-scenes machinations at the State Department briefings, including how on Sept. 25, a week ago today, Miller clearly avoided calling on me and actually admitted to me after the briefing that he was retaliatory. He said he wasn’t calling on me intentionally, claiming I had been “belligerent” in our prior exchange. I regard this as a brazen violation of the First Amendment. Spokespeople should not avoid calling on independent journalists because they claim they don’t like their tone. In addition, I wasn’t belligerent in my past questioning as he claimed, he actually interrupted me. He again didn’t call on me on Thursday as Jamie Rubin talked about their new report claiming the Chinese government is making allegedly unfounded claims about the US government, including regarding biological weapons.]

Today, I asked State Dept.: "Did USAID fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology and/or any of its US collaborators?”

In the past they have been evasive. This time they outright punted to USAID, even though USAID operates under the guidance of the State Dept. So it’s rather odd that the State Dept. would duck this and pass it on to USAID given the gravity of the issue.

As I noted in my followup, neither USAID nor State have answered this question when I sent it by email.

I also noted that it appears the State Dept. and USAID are attempting to cover up this issue. The BMJ, the prestigious British medical journal, just had a lengthy piece about how USAID was quietly ending its virus collection program.

Nor did State Dept. spokesperson Matt Miller today respond to a question about "gain of function" labwork violating the Biological Weapons Convention, even though, as I noted, the author of the US implementing legislation, Francis Boyle, has argued that it is violating the treaty and law.

As Justin Goodman of the White Coat Waste Project noted:

See from Sept. 12: “BREAKING, VIDEO - State Dept refuses to address how much USAID money went to Wuhan Institute of Virology and collaborator Ralph Baric, who developed techniques for weaponizing viruses.”

And several other past questionings and related articles on USAID.

Also see past pieces on Covid origins.

Many thanks to

Decensored News

for video editing.

Full transcript of today’s exchange and possible updates to follow.

MILLER:  Sam, go ahead.  

HUSSEINI:  Thank you.  Did USAID fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology and/or any of its U.S. collaborators, either directly or through sub-grants?

MILLER:  I will refer you to USAID to respond to that question.

HUSSEINI:  I have submitted questions to USAID.  I’ve submitted questions by email.  I’ve asked repeatedly in this room on this issue.  I don’t need to go through what the pandemic caused, and the controversy around this issue.  The fact of the matter is that USAID recently cut off funding to these virus protection programs.  British Medical Journal did a lengthy report noting that USAID had cut off this very quietly.  It seems to be an orchestrated attempt to disengage responsibility.  So, it’s a simple empirical question of central importance.  Did USAID fund the Wuhan Institute of Virology or its U.S. collaborators?

MILLER:  And again – and again, I would refer you to USAID to speak to the specifics of their funding program. 

HUSSEINI:  They are not responding to my emails.  I have repeatedly emailed both State and USAID.  I usually get responses when I email to State.  I have not gotten a response when I email on this issue.

MILLER:  I will look into that.  It is up to them to respond, but I will look into that question for a response.

HUSSEINI:  More generally, does the State Department claim that the gain-of-function research or gain-of-function research of concern, also called the creation of potential pandemic pathogens in the academic literature – does the State Department maintain that this does not violate the Bio Weapons Convention or the – and the U.S. implementing legislation, the Bio-Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989?

MILLER:  We have spoken to this a number of times, and I don’t have anything to add today.

Go ahead, Alex. 

HUSSEINI:  No, no.  Okay, what – I’m sorry, what – do you claim that you – that that does not —?

MILLER:  Again, I don’t have anything to add to what we’ve said on this on a number of previous occasions. 

Alex.

HUSSEINI:  It’s just that the person who wrote the treaty says that it does. 

MILLER:  Alex, go ahead. 

HUSSEINI:  Francis Boyle of the University of Illinois.

MILLER:  Alex, go ahead.