Thread by @EpochTimes

THREAD🧵The @NIH has reinstated a grant that had been terminated by President Trump in April 2020.

However, a document first obtained by the House Oversight Committee reveals that the #NIH’s conditions for reinstatement have not been met. theepochtimes.com/analysis-why-w…

The grant, titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” was originally awarded in 2014 by Dr. Anthony Fauci’s NIAID.

Under the terms of the grant, @EcoHealthNYC, a government-funded nonprofit that purportedly engages in research to prevent pandemics, was awarded… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

In May 2016, the grant was suspended after Erik Stemmy, a NIAID program officer, noticed that federal government funds may have been used for prohibited #GainOfFunction experiments at the #WuhanLab in #China.

https://twitter.com/HansMahncke/status/1656300666296360960

At the time, the Obama administration had put… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

As part of the conditions of the grant, @EcoHealthNYC had to file regular activity reports.

However, starting in 2018, EcoHealth stopped submitting these reports. EcoHealth would later blame technical difficulties for their failure to submit.

The missing reports comprised the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Despite @EcoHealthNYC's delinquency in filing the status reports, NIAID did not stop funding the project.

It was only after a FOIA request for the reports was filed in 2021 that EcoHealth was prompted by NIAID to provide the reports. The reports, which were finally submitted by… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

When the connections between the #WuhanLab and NIAID’s grant became known in April 2020, President @realDonaldTrump terminated the grant.

Trump’s decision caused an outcry among the media and his critics. However, the @NIH, which is NIAID’s parent body, appears to have been well aware that Trump’s actions were merited. theepochtimes.com/analysis-nih-l…

On July 8, 2020, Michael Lauer, @NIH’s deputy director for extramural research who was in charge of “ensuring scientific integrity, public accountability, and effective stewardship of the NIH extramural research portfolio,” wrote a letter to @EcoHealthNYC, listing 7 demands that… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

NIH Issued 7 Demands
1) @EcoHealthNYC needed to provide a sample of the #COVID19 virus which it used to determine the virus’ genetic sequence.

The ostensible purpose of this demand was to compare this original sample with other samples in order to assess when it first emerged. twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

2) @EcoHealthNYC was required to “explain the apparent disappearance of Huang Yanling, a scientist / technician who worked in the #WuhanLab but whose lab web presence has been deleted.”

Huang Yanling has long been thought to be patient zero. Her profile was scrubbed from the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

3) @EcoHealthNYC was asked to share the “WIV’s responses to the 2018 @StateDept cables regarding safety concerns.”

These cables had warned of a “serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate” the #WuhanLab’s high-level… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

4) @EcoHealthNYC was required to “disclose and explain out-of-ordinary restrictions on laboratory facilities, as suggested, for example, by diminished cell-phone traffic in October 2019, and the evidence that there may have been roadblocks surrounding the facility from October… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5) The @NIH demanded that @EcoHealthNYC “explain why WIV failed to note that the RaTG13 virus, the bat-derived coronavirus in its collection with the greatest similarity to SARS-CoV-2, was actually isolated from an abandoned mine where three men died in 2012 with an illness… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

6) @EcoHealthNYC was required to “arrange for WIV to submit to an outside inspection team charged to review the lab facilities and lab records, with specific attention to addressing the question of whether WIV staff had SARS-CoV-2 in their possession prior to December 2019.”

The… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

7) Lastly, @EcoHealthNYC had to stipulate to properly and fully report all its subawards in the Federal Subaward Reporting System.

EcoHealth Rejected NIH’s Demands
The list of demands issued by the @NIH is notable in that it suggests that NIH officials were well aware of the possibility that #COVID19 had emerged from the #WuhanLab.

This awareness stands in stark contrast to public pronouncements in 2020… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The demands themselves are remarkably onerous—in particular, the requirement for an independent inspection of the #WuhanLab to ascertain when it came into possession of #COVID19.

It would have been known to @NIH leaders such as Lauer that @EcoHealthNYC would likely not comply… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

Indeed, @EcoHealthNYC hired counsel who informed @NIH in August 2020 that EcoHealth refused to answer any of the questions posed.

However, shortly after NIH was informed of EcoHealth’s non-compliance, Fauci awarded EcoHealth a fresh grant totaling $7.5 million, more than double… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

There is no indication that @EcoHealthNYC changed its course and no indication that any of @NIH’s demands were met.

NIAID did not respond to an @EpochTimes inquiry as to whether EcoHealth had complied with the list of requirements.

Despite EcoHealth’s apparent failure to comply… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

The other question is why House Republicans have not addressed this issue.

https://twitter.com/HansMahncke/status/1656300666296360960

For instance, Erik Stemmy, the NIAID official who initially suspended EcoHealth’s grant could have been subpoenaed to explain why the grant was reinstated in 2016 despite funds… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

As for @EcoHealthNYC, the group has issued a celebratory statement, announcing that @NIH reversed itself and reinstated the grant that @realDonaldTrump had terminated.

Notably, it concedes that “due to concerns about continuing collaborative laboratory research with the Wuhan… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…