Throughout 2020, the theory that COVID-19 leaked from a lab was off-limits, scorned by experts and tainted by Donald Trump’s xenophobia.

But those who dared to fight for transparency say toxic politics and hidden agendas kept us in the dark. vntyfr.com/gNKxaCp
In 2017, a U.S. government moratorium on funding for gain-of-function research—experiments meant to make pathogens more infectious—was lifted. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has received U.S. grant money via an intermediary.
By late 2020, a small group within the State Department was investigating the WIV. Classified intelligence suggested that several researchers conducting gain-of-function experiments on coronavirus samples had fallen ill the autumn before the outbreak was known to have started.
Along with these revelations came another: Peter Daszak, the zoologist who organized the initial Lancet statement rejecting the lab-leak hypothesis, has repackaged U.S. government grants and allocated them to facilities conducting gain-of-function research—including the WIV.
In January 2021, 13 international experts—including Daszak—paid one visit to the WIV alongside 17 Chinese experts and an entourage of government minders. Its database of some 22,000 virus samples and sequences had been taken offline without explanation.
There are reasons to doubt the lab-leak hypothesis, but it should now be possible to reject the xenophobia sown by Trump and still ask why, of all places, the outbreak began in the city with a laboratory doing some of the world’s most extensive research on bat viruses.
A months-long V.F. investigation. Interviews with more than 40 people. A review of hundreds of pages of U.S. government documents, memos, and emails.

Read the full report from @KatherineEban: vanityfair.com/news/2021/06/t…

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More from @VanityFair

8 Apr
“The 2017 theatrical cut was an act of vandalism,” #JusticeLeague screenwriter Chris Terrio says. “@ZackSnyder may be too much of a gentleman to say that, but I’m not.” An exclusive Q&A: vntyfr.com/bzWPTcR
Breaking five years of silence, the screenwriter gets brutally honest about how the theatrical releases of his DC films Batman v Superman and Justice League turned into total fiascos.
Terrio says #BvS and #JusticeLeague were undermined by corporate meddling, poor franchise planning, and tone-deaf studio decisions that opted for expensive VFX scenes over coherent storytelling.
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6 Apr
With its COVID-19 response, the Biden administration had hoped to reclaim America’s role as a global public-health leader. But a dramatic uptick in domestic cases meant the world would have to wait. vntyfr.com/JspYBUB
Notably, @KatherineEban reveals that the contracts the Trump administration signed with vaccine manufacturers prohibit the U.S. from sharing its surplus doses with the rest of the world. Image
Though designed to ensure that manufacturers retain liability protection, the legal parameters “must change” before the U.S. can do anything to help the rest of the world, one senior administration official said.
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18 Mar
On January 5, an eight-seat private jet took off from Memphis, headed for Washington, D.C. On board were eight members of Memphis’s lily white country-club elite, on their way to answer the call issued by former president Trump to “Stop the Steal.” vntyfr.com/XCTZgQh
Together the individuals are worth millions of dollars, with business interests that span the southeast: sizable stakes in auto dealerships, the Corky’s BBQ chain, financial firms whose earnings rival those of Wall Street shops, and registered “plantations.”
When asked about his attendance at the “Stop the Steal” rally, John Hull Dobbs Jr. initially denied knowledge. “I don’t know anything about a rally like that,” he said. Then he failed to hang up the phone, proceeding to discuss how he misled the reporter.
Read 6 tweets
15 Mar
In the Trump administration’s final weeks, a scramble took place as political appointees tried to crash the ultimate VIP list: the roster of government employees who would be vaccinated for COVID-19 from a small allotment for essential workers vntyfr.com/bWKsIMW
The quest to get on the White House list—closely guarded by Mark Meadows and a small group of NSC officials—attracted a variety of would-be line-jumpers ranging from cabinet members to young White House desk jockeys, writes @katherineeban
Among this group, V.F. has learned, were chiefs of staff of cabinet agencies, some of whose bosses had become notorious for publicly disregarding pandemic safeguards like mask-wearing.
Read 10 tweets
15 Mar
#Oscars: Follow along as the nominations for this year's Academy Awards are announced vntyfr.com/VWXzX3Z
"Borat," "Nomadland," and "Sound of Metal" are among the first nominees announced: vntyfr.com/rKGtbdo
#Oscars nominations continue, with Best Animated Feature, Best International Feature, and more announced: vntyfr.com/DFk6Buo
Read 4 tweets
28 Oct 20
Presenting our December cover star: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez! Two elections in, the congresswoman is still fighting the fight—and she’s as sure as she’s ever been.

Read the @AOC cover story now. Photograph by Tyler Mitchell. vntyfr.com/VbXWvad
For V.F.’s December cover, @AOC opens up about her father’s influence on her political life, the day Ted Yoho lost his shit, and the power she finds in her iconic red lip. Read the cover story now:

Photographs by Tyler Mitchell. vntyfr.com/VbXWvad
.@AOC on Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell: vntyfr.com/VbXWvad
Read 7 tweets

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