Court Victory Against Biden Secrecy!

[INSIDE JW]

NEW DOCUMENTS SEEM TO DETAIL FAUCI AGENCY FUNDING OF GAIN OF FUNCTION
RESEARCH IN CHINA

[[link removed]]

We now have proof that our tax dollars were dishonestly used by Dr.
Anthony Fauci’s agency to fund “gain of function” coronavirus
research.

We learned this in 221 pages
[[link removed]]
of records we received from the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) that include a 2018 grant application for research
involving the coronavirus.

The grant application appears to describe “gain of function”
research involving RNA extractions from bats, experiments on viruses,
attempts to develop a chimeric virus, and efforts to genetically
manipulate the full-length bat SARSr-CoV WIV1 strain molecular clone.

Judicial Watch obtained the documents through a lawsuit
[[link removed]]
for records
of communications, contracts and agreements with the Wuhan Institute
of Virology. Our lawsuit specifically requests records about National
Institute of Health (NIH) grants that benefitted the Wuhan Institute
of Virology.

Here are some of the details.

On January 27, 2020, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases (NIAID) official David Morens emailed
[[link removed]]
Chief of Staff Greg Folkers in a heavily redacted thread, writing:

[S]ome background on our support of the Ecohealth group (Peter Daszak
et al), which has for years been among the biggest players in
coronavirus work, also in collaboration with Ralph Baric, Ian Lipkin
and others. [Redacted].

NIAID has been funding Peter’s group for coronavirus work in China
for the past 5 years through [grant] R011R01A|110964: “Understanding
the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” That’s now been renewed,
with a specific focus to identify cohorts of people highly exposed to
bats in China, and work out if they’re getting sick from CoVs.…
Collaborators include Wuhan Institute of Virology (currently working
on the nCoV) and Ralph Baric. The results of the work to date include:

* [Redacted]
* Discovered Swine Acute Diarrheal Syndrome Virus (SADS-CoV) killing
>25,000 pigs in Guangdong Province (Published in Nature)
* Found SARS-related CoVs that can bind to human cells (Published in
Nature), and that cause SARS-like disease in humanized mouse models.
* [Redacted]

Also, prior to the above R01, Peter’s folks worked under an R01 with
Eun-Park as Program Officer on viral discovery in bats, and originally
identified SARS-CoV as having a likely origin in bats (published in
Science).

Folkers forwards the message to Anthony Fauci and others.

In a “Notice of Award
[[link removed]
dated July 13, 2020, the NIH increased the amount of NIH money going
to Peter Daszak’s firm, EcoHealth Alliance, by $369,819 with a
project period that runs from June 1, 2014, through June 30, 2025, for
Daszak’s project “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus
Emergence.

EcoHealth was to receive $637,980 in each of the years 2019 through
2024 under the grant.

The award’s writers specifically direct funds “for activity with
Wuhan Institute of Virology in the amount of $76,301” and “for
activity with Institute of Pathogen Biology [located in China] in the
amount of $75,301.” Funds also went to the University of North
Carolina-Chapel Hill. The award’s writers also indicate that
research associated with the award was also being conducted at East
China Normal University in China and to Duke-NUS Medical School in
Singapore.

The specialists overseeing the award note that, “This award may
include collaborations with and/or between foreign organizations.”
The specialists also note that award grantees using “Highly
Pathogenic Agents” “may warrant a biocontainment safety facility
of BSL3 or higher.” The grantee is also required to report “Any
changes in the use of the Agent(s) or Toxin(s) including its
restricted experiments that have resulted in a change in the required
biocontainment level, and any resultant change in location.” The NIH
Grants Management Specialist overseeing the award was Shaun W. Gratton
and the NIH Program Official was Erik J. Stemmy. Of the 17
“Senior/Key Personnel” assigned as researchers on the project,
seven worked at Chinese institutions.

The site locations in an EcoHealth grant application
[[link removed]]
submitted November 5, 2018, for coronavirus research included
EcoHealth Alliance in New York City, the University of North Carolina
in Chapel Hill, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Institute of
Pathogen Biology in Beijing, China. Among the “aims
[[link removed]
listed, the applicants write, “We will sequence receptor binding
domains (spike proteins) to identify viruses with the highest
potential for spillover which we will include in our experimental
investigations.” In the third “aim”, they continue “We will
use S protein sequence data, infectious clone technology, in vitro and
in vivo infection experiments and analysis of receptor binding to test
the hypothesis that % divergence thresholds in S protein sequences
predict spillover potential.”

In a description of the Wuhan lab, the writers of the application note
that, “The Wuhan Institute of Virology is a World Health
Organization collaborating center” and had a “long-time (>15
years) partnership with EcoHealth Alliance.”

In his “personal statement
[[link removed]
in the grant application, Dr. Peter Daszak writes about his “20+
years of NIH-funded research.” Among his awards, Daszak notes he was
a 1999 recipient of the CDC’s “Meritoriouos service award,” had
a species of centipedes named after him (“_Crytops daszaki_”), as
well as having a “new parasite species” named after himself
(“_Isospora daszaki_”), and is an elected member of the Kosmos
Club in Washington, DC. He also says he’s a member of the U.S.
“National Institute of Medicine” which he abbreviates as
“NAM.” In his “Contributions to Science,” Daszak notes,
“Collaborating with virologists in China, we have isolated and
characterized SARS-like CoVs from bats that use the same host cell
receptor (AACE-2) as SARS-CoV.”

In a personal biography
[[link removed]]
section of the above grant application, Dr. Shi Zhengli
[[link removed]],
head of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, notes that one of her ongoing
research projects, with a duration of January 1, 2018, to December 31,
2021, and sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China, involves, “Evolution mechanism of the adation [sic] of bat
SARS-related coronaviruses to host receptor molecules and the risk of
interspecies infection.”

Prof. Ralph Baric of UNC-Chapel Hill also has his biographical
information
[[link removed]]
listed in the grant application, and this includes his participation
in a 2015 workshop relating to “Trends in Synthetic Biology and Gain
of Function and Regulatory Implications”, a 2015 China-US workshop
involving “Challenges of Emerging Infections, Laboratory Safety, and
Global Health Security,” and participation in a 2014 working group
on “Risks and Benefits of Gain of Function Research.” Among
Baric’s “major accomplishments” cited was a study involving
“reconstruction of civet and bat CoV from _in silico_ sequence, the
first reported recovery of recombinant bat viruses, and
characterization of host range phenotypes _in vitro_ and _in vivo_.”
Baric writes that “Several CoV infectious cDNA clones are available
in the lab, including SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, conventional human and model
CoVs, and several bat CoVs with pandemic potential.”
In the “Application for Federal Assistance,” for the project
“Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,” the costs
for the first year
[[link removed]]
(2019-2020) of the EcoHealth Alliance project application totaled
$736,996.

The second year (2020-2021
[[link removed]])
costs total $712,441.
The third year (2021-2022
[[link removed]])
costs total $712,441.
The fourth year (2022-2023
[[link removed]])
costs total $712,441.
The fifth year (2023-2024
[[link removed]])
costs total $712,441.

However, in July 2020, HHS wrote a letter
[[link removed]]
to EcoHealth Alliance regarding funding:

[T]he NIH has received reports that the Wuhan Institute of Virology
(WIV), a subrecipient of EcoHealth Alliance under R01AI110964, has
been conducting research at its facilities in China that pose serious
bio-safety concerns and, as a result, create health and welfare
threats to the public in China and other countries, including the
United States.

***

We have concerns that WIV has not satisfied safety requirements under
the award, and that EcoHealth Alliance has not satisfied its
obligations to monitor the activities of its subrecipient to ensure
compliance.

***

Therefore, effective the date of this letter, July 8, 2020, NIH is
suspending all activities … until such time as these concerns have
been addressed to NIH’s satisfaction.

Among the budget items
[[link removed]]
in the EcoHealth grant application, was one for supplies for “bats
trapping” and “viral transport media.” The total salary, wages
and fringe benefits to be paid to the “Senior/Key Person” over the
5-year project totaled $1,118,565.00.

The NIAID funds
[[link removed]]
to be allocated to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for this project
for each of the years 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023, and
2023-2024 was $76,301, or a total over five years of $381,505.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology’s role in the project
[[link removed]],
overseen by Dr. Shi Zhengli would include “running RNA extractions
for 1,000 bats per year (two samples per bat: rectal and blood) in
each year of the project,” costing $6,214 per year. The Wuhan
Institute of Virology also requested “support for in vitro
experiments using pseudoviruses carrying the spike proteins … or
live viruses in cell lines of different origins, binding affinity
assays between the spike proteins … and different cellular receptor
molecules, and humanized mice experiments.”

In a discussion of their research to date, the grant applicants wrote
[[link removed]],
“In collaboration with Ralph Baric (UNC), we used the SARS-CoV
reverse genetics system … to generate a chimeric virus with a
mouse-adapted SARS-CoV backbone expressing SHC014 S protein with 10%
sequence divergence from SARS-DoV S. This chimera replicated in human
airway epithelium, using the human ACE2 receptor to enter cells …
THUS, SARS-COVS WITH DIVERSE VARIANTS OF SL-COV S PROTEIN WITHOUT
DELETIONS IN THE RBD CAN USE HUMAN ACE2 AS RECEPTOR FOR CELL ENTRY.”
[Emphasis in original]

In a discussion of the rationale of one of the aims of the project,
the applicants write, “we aim to expand the known diversity of
SARSr-CoVs by over 125 strains, targeting 10-25% S protein divergence
that we predict infers high spillover risk and evasion of immune
therapeutic and vaccine efficacy.” They continue, “We will …
construct chimeric SARSr-CoVs using the WIV1 backbone and these S
genes as done previously.” They go on, “Construction of chimeric
SARSr-CoV viruses: infectious clones with the S gene of novel
SARSr-CoVs and the SARSr-Cov WIV1 genome backbone using the reverse
genetic system developed in our previous R01.”

In a section titled “P3CO Research
[[link removed],
the applicants write: “Recognizing the implementation of new gain of
function research guidelines under P3CO [Potential Pandemic Pathogen
Care and Oversight], SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV are subject to these
guidelines, and as such, reverse genetic studies are subject to review
… IMPORTANTLY, WE ARE NOT PROPOSING TO GENETICALLY MANIPULATE
SARS-COV over the course of this proposal. However, we are proposing
to genetically manipulate the full-length bat SARSr-CoV WIV1 strain
molecular clone during the course of the proposal, which is not a
select agent, has not been shown to cause human infections, and has
not been shown to be transmissible between humans.” [Emphasis in
original]

In an October 31, 2018, letter
[[link removed]]
from the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Dr. Yangyi Wang,
to Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, requesting
permission to take part in the NIAID funded project, he tells Daszak:

Understanding and preventing exposure and transmission of zoonotic
diseases from wildlife to humans remains a high priority for
prevention of pandemics. In our discussion with EcoHealth Alliance, we
have agreed to participate in activities that will strengthen the
ability of China and other countries in the region to respond to
epidemic disease outbreaks - particularly those of animal origin. To
assist in this study, we will provide participating laboratories in
China with human samples both new and archived and support research in
bat coronaviruses.

We at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, look
forward to our continued collaborations with the EcoHealth Alliance
team and working further on this worthwhile study.

In my view, these new disclosures detail not only a cover-up but
potential fraud and deserve a criminal investigation.

This is the latest discovery in our investigation of our government
and the Wuhan lab.

In August, we obtained records
[[link removed]]
from HHS that include an “urgent for Dr. Fauci” email chain citing
ties between the Wuhan lab and the taxpayer-funded EcoHealth Alliance.
The government emails also report that the foundation of U.S.
billionaire Bill Gates worked closely with the Chinese government to
pave the way for Chinese-produced medications to be sold outside China
and help “raise China’s voice of governance by placing
representatives from China on important international counsels as
high-level commitment from China.”

In July, we obtained records
[[link removed]]
from NIAID officials in connection with the Wuhan Institute of
Virology revealing significant collaborations and funding that began
in 2014. The records revealed that NIAID gave nine China-related
grants to EcoHealth Alliance
[[link removed]]
to
research coronavirus emergence in bats and was the NIH’s top issuer
of grants to the Wuhan lab itself.

In June, we announced FOIA lawsuits
[[link removed]]
against the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and
the State Department for information on the Wuhan Institute of
Virology and the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Also in June, we obtained records
[[link removed]]
from
HHS revealing that from 2014 to 2019, $826,277 was given to the Wuhan
Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research by the NIAID.

In March, we publicly released
[[link removed]]
emails and other records of Fauci and Dr. H. Clifford Lane
[[link removed]]
from HHS
showing that NIH officials tailored confidentiality forms to China’s
terms and that the WHO conducted an unreleased, “strictly
confidential” COVID-19 epidemiological analysis in January 2020.
Additionally, the emails reveal an independent journalist in China
pointing out the inconsistent COVID numbers in China to NIH’s
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Deputy
Director for Clinical Research and Special Projects Lane.

In October 2020, we uncovered emails
[[link removed]]
showing a
WHO entity pushing for a press release, approved by Fauci,
“especially” supporting China’s COVID-19 response.

MORE INFORMATION SURFACES ON MYSTERIOUS ASHLEY BIDEN INVESTIGATION

The diary of Ashley Biden, President Biden’s daughter, is at the
center of a legal storm involving police in Florida, the FBI and
prosecutors in New York. It raises serious questions abuses of the
First Amendment by the Biden administration.

We now have more details. We received a six-page incident report and
bodycam footage from the Delray Beach, FL, Police Department,
detailing the turnover of records related to the diary and/or other
property of Ashley Biden, daughter of President Joe Biden.

According to the incident report, an attorney turned in “possibly
stolen luggage” to the Delray Beach PD which contained “documents
and envelopes in folders” with the name Ashley Biden. The Delray
Beach PD included bodycam footage of an attorney handing over the
items.

The Delray Beach PD also noted in the incident report that the FBI had
said it would “take over the case.”

We obtained the documents and bodycam video in response to a November
16, 2021, Florida Public Records Request for:

* All records related to the alleged theft and/or disappearance of a
diary and/or other property from Ashley Blazer Biden…circa 2020
reportedly from a Delray Beach residence. Such records shall include,
but not be limited to, incident reports, investigative reports,
recordings, photos, telephone logs and messages, email messages, and
witness statements.
* All records of communications, including emails and text messages,
sent to and from Delray Beach Police Department officials regarding
the alleged theft/disappearance of Ms. Biden’s diary and/or other
property.

The incident report was filed on November 8, 2020. Project Veritas
reportedly
[[link removed]]
obtained Ashley Biden’s diary in October 2020, a week and a half
before the 2020 presidential election.

The “possibly stolen luggage” was reported to the Delray Beach PD
on Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 11:21AM. It was reported as a
“Suspicious Incident.” The report indicates “BWC/In Use/Body
Worn Cam” and under the “Victims” section, in the field for
number of victims, they list zero.

In a print-out for the case for “Additional Name List,” the Delray
Beach PD lists Ashley Biden, but provides no additional information.

In the incident report, Delray Beach PD Officer Nicole Guerriero
explained that she met with Adam Leo Bantner II “at the DBPD [Delray
Beach Police Department] lobby in reference to property that he wanted
to turn over to the DBPD.” She continued:

“Adam, who is an attorney, advised that his client, who Adam refused
to divulge the identity of, gave Adam some property (a duffle bag and
a piece of luggage) that his client obtained from an unknown person.
Adam’s client told Adam that the property is possibly stolen and he
got it from an unknown person at a hotel which the client refused to
share as well. It was also learned that the items belonged to a person
named ‘Ashley Biden.’ A brief check of the property in the luggage
revealed that there were some documents and envelopes in folders that
were loosely spread in the bags which read the name Ashley Biden. The
documents all had different addresses, but all had the same name of
Ashley Biden. The bags were checked for safety and all the contents
were left inside the bags and secured in DBPD. The FBI was contacted
and advised that they would respond to the DBPD, collect the
belongings and take over the case.”

In a Case Supplemental Report on November 8, 2020, “at approximately
4:24 p.m.,” Officer Guerriero notes: “I met with FBI Special Agent
Healey and turned over a blue duffle bag and a black suitcase into his
custody. Both contained miscellaneous clothing and personal
property.”

The website Nationalfile.com
[[link removed]]
reported a New York Times story about the investigation of the diary:

The article claims that the federal investigators are comprised of FBI
agents and “federal prosecutors in Manhattan who work on public
corruption matters” on behalf of the Southern District of New York.
The investigation was seemingly opened by then-Attorney General Bill
Barr, after a Biden family representative allegedly reported in
October 2020 that the diary, along with “several” of Ashley
Biden’s personal items had been stolen in a burglary.

This is contrary to the information provided to National File by a
Project Veritas whistleblower, who explained that the diary was left
at an address where Joe Biden’s daughter used to stay….

In a video posted to social media
[[link removed]],
Project Veritas’ James O’Keefe notes that Ashley Biden’s
father’s FBI may be setting a dangerous precedent by, apparently,
pursuing criminal charges against reporters for the crime of gathering
information from sources.


The FBI raided the home
[[link removed]]
of Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe on November 6, 2021,
purportedly as part of a federal investigation into the "stolen"
diary.

The Biden Justice Department’s abuse of James O’Keefe and Project
Veritas stinks to high heaven, and these new documents raise new
concerns that O’Keefe is being improperly targeted.

JUDICIAL WATCH VICTORY: DELAWARE SUPREME COURT DEMANDS MORE ANSWERS ON
BIDEN DOCUMENT SECRECY

We have a victory in our lawsuit to learn what Joe Biden is hiding
about his days in the Senate.

The Delaware Supreme Court ruled
[[link removed]]
this week that the University of Delaware must provide more
information justifying its decision to keep secret its deal to house
and restrict access to the U.S. Senate records of President Joe Biden.

The high court reversed the Delaware Superior Court and found that the
University of Delaware had not carried its burden justifying its
refusal to produce records. The case returns to the Delaware Superior
Court for further proceedings.

We and The Daily Caller News Foundation initially filed
[[link removed]]
the July 2020 state
FOIA lawsuit after the University of Delaware denied their requests on
April 30, 2020, for all of Biden’s Senate records and for records
about the preservation and any proposed release of the records,
including communications with Biden or his representatives (_Judicial
Watch, Inc. v. University of Delaware_
[[link removed]],
No. N20A-07-001 MMJ (Del. Super.)).

Tara Reade, who has accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993
when she worked as a staff assistant to the then-senator, has said
[[link removed]]
that she believes a workplace discrimination and harassment complaint
she filed against Biden at the time may be in the records housed at
the University of Delaware. Biden also admitted to communicating with
Vladimir Putin
[[link removed]]
and other foreign leaders when he was a United State Senator.

In January 2021, we filed an appeal
[[link removed]]
to
the Delaware Supreme Court, asking for a reversal of the opinion of
the Delaware Superior Court, which blocked a state FOIA request for
access to records about President Biden’s senatorial records held by
the University of Delaware. Biden’s papers include more than 1,850
boxes of archival records from his Senate career.

In its opinion, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that the state’s
open records law requires the University must provide additional
information, under oath, to justify its refusal to produce records
about its dealings with Biden:

[U]nless it is clear on the face of the request that the demanded
records are not subject to FOIA, satisfaction of Section 10005(c)’s
burden of proof requires a statement made under oath. Such a reading
of the statutory text is also supported by the statute’s purpose.
FOIA safeguards a democratic society by ensuring the meetings and
records of governmental entities are available to the public….

Therefore, if a public body is to deny citizens an opportunity to
“observe the performance of public officials and to monitor the
decisions that are made by such officials,” the public body must
satisfy its burden of proof under FOIA in a manner that tracks the
seriousness of the statute’s purpose and policy. Statements made
under oath, such as through a sworn affidavit, accomplish that goal;
they bear earmarks of reliability and instill a measure of seriousness
in the affiant by subjecting the affiant to the risk of penalty of
perjury.


Regarding the reversal of the Superior Court’s decision, the opinion
instructs:

Because the University’s factual assertions to the Deputy Attorney
General and the Superior Court were not made under oath and do not
describe the efforts taken to identify responsive documents, they are
not sufficient to meet FOIA’s burden of proof. On remand, the
Superior Court shall determine whether the University has satisfied
its burden of proof based on competent evidence in accordance with
this ruling. The Superior Court is granted leave to accept additional
evidence or submissions as it deems necessary and appropriate.

“The University of Delaware should stop trying to hide records from
the president's decades of political activities. They should be
public. This level of corruption should not be happening in
America,” Daily Caller News Foundation President Neil Patel said.

This decision is a remarkable pushback on the University of
Delaware’s secret deal with Joe Biden to hide his Senate records. In
the meantime, why won’t President Biden simply release his Senate
records? What is he trying to hide?

Until next week...





[Contribute]
[[link removed]]


<a
href="[link removed]"
target="_blank"><img alt="WU01"
src="[link removed]"
style="width:100%; height:auto;" /></a>

[32x32x1]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x2]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x3]
[[link removed]]

[32x32x3]
[[link removed]]

Judicial Watch, Inc.
425 3rd St Sw Ste 800
Washington, DC 20024

202.646.5172



© 2017 - 2021, All Rights Reserved
Manage Email Subscriptions
[[link removed]]
|
Unsubscribe
[[link removed]]

View in browser
[[link removed]]