Peter Daszak, Ph.D., April 4, 2024 — Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the Committee on Energy and Commerce

Summary

A letter of April 4, 2024 from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the Committee on Energy and Commerce to Peter Daszak, Ph.D., care of attorney Michael Grudberg of Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP, ahead of a public hearing on May 1, 2024. It says a Freedom of Information Act production calls into question whether Daszak's November 14, 2023 transcribed interview testimony, that planned DEFUSE experiments were to be done at UNC, omitted a material fact and was misleading. It cites a draft of the DEFUSE proposal to DARPA describing work by Prof. Ralph Baric at UNC and comments in the drafting notes. The letter is over the names of chairs including Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Morgan Griffith and Brett Guthrie, and an appendix lists individuals such as Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci.

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Full text

April 4, 2024

Peter Daszak, Ph.D.
C/O Mr. Michael Grudberg, Esq.
Partner
Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP
1350 Broadway
New York, NY 10018

Dear Dr. Daszak:

Since the beginning of the 118th Congress, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Pandemic and the Committee on Energy and Commerce (together “the Committees”) have been
investigating the origins of COVID-19 and related issues.1

I. Public Hearing

We look forward to your testimony at a public hearing on May 1, 2024. In accordance
with all applicable rules, a formal invitation will follow.

II. Discrepancies in Testimony

On November 14, 2023, you testified at a transcribed interview before the Committees.2
At the interview, committee counsel advised that you were required pursuant to Title 18 Section
1001 of the United States Code to answer questions truthfully, including questions posed by
Congressional staff in the interview, and that if you knowingly made false statements, you could
be subject to criminal prosecution. You stated on the record that you understood the requirement
and the consequences of not complying with that requirement.

During this interview, you were asked about the DEFUSE research proposal EcoHealth
Alliance (“EcoHealth”), with the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the Wuhan Institute of
Virology (WIV), submitted to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). When
asked about the location of planned experiments involving the reverse engineering and
characterization of coronavirus spike proteins, you responded:

1
Letter from the Hon. James Comer, the Hon. Brad Wenstrup, et. al., H. Comm on Oversight and Accountability, to
Dr. Peter Daszak, Ph. D., President, EcoHealth Alliance (Feb. 13, 2023); Letter from the Hon. Cathy McMorris
Rodgers, the Hon. Brett Guthrie, and the Hon. Morgan Griffith, H. Comm. on Energy and Commerce, to Dr. Peter
Daszak, Ph. D., President, EcoHealth Alliance (Feb. 23, 2023).
2
Transcribed Interview of Dr. Peter Daszak, Ph. D., President, EcoHealth Alliance, Select Subcomm. on
Coronavirus Pandemic of the H. Comm. on Oversight and Accountability and Subcomm on Overisght and
Investigations of the H. Committee on Energy and Commerce (Nov. 14, 2023).
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 2

Q. Was the work supposed to happen at UNC (University of North
Carolina) or at the WIV (Wuhan Institute of Virology)?

A. My understanding for that work, it was going to be done at UNC. I
think the proposal says it was going to be done in pseudo type, which
is not even live virus.3

A recent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) document production calls into question
whether your testimony omitted a material fact and was misleading. A draft of the DEFUSE
proposal, contained a line explaining:

Isolation will be attempted on a subset of samples with novel
SARSr-CoVs. Prof. Ralph Baric, UNC, will reverse engineer spike
proteins in his lab to conduct binding assays to human ACE2 (the
SARS-CoV receptor). Proteins that bind will then be inserted into
the SARS-CoV backbones, and inoculated into humanized mice to
assess their capability to cause SARS-like disease…4

For the first time, the FOIA production provided notes regarding the editing process for
the grant application. In a draft of the proposal, you wrote a comment in this section addressed to
your collaborators Dr. Baric and Dr. Shi Zhengli of the WIV:

If we win this contract, I do not propose that all of this work will
necessarily be conducted by Ralph, but I do want to stress the US
side of this proposal so that DARPA are comfortable with our team.
Once we get the funds, we can then allocate who does what exact
work, and I believe that a lot of these assays can be done in Wuhan
as well…5

This comment appears to be materially inconsistent with your testimony assuring the
Committees that the proposed work was planned to be done exclusively at UNC.

Additionally, while testifying before the Committees about the biosafety levels used by
the WIV when conducting research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Disease (NIAID), you stated that:

Q: The "Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories"
(BMBL) reference book that NIH and CDC put out, [is that]
incorporated by reference into the terms of conditions of the grant?

3
Id.
4
Emily Kopp, US Scientist Proposed to Make Viruses with Unique Features of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan, U.S. RIGHT
TO KNOW, January 18, 2024, https://usrtk.org/covid-19-origins/scientists-proposed-making-viruses-with-unique-
features-of-sars-cov-2-in-wuhan/.
5
Supra, note 2.
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 3

A: Yeah.

Q: So as part of just this general auditing oversight, did [EcoHealth
Alliance] ensure that the WIV follows the BMBL?

A: Yeah.

Q: And how did you monitor that compliance?

A: By requesting information about what biosafety levels they used for
which at parts of the work. And we found that they use the same
biosafety levels that were used in the U.S. and were directed by the
CDC and the BMBL.6

However, in this draft of the DEFUSE proposal, Dr. Shi Zhengli wrote that she planned
to perform this work in BSL-2. In response to Dr. Shi’s proposal, Dr. Baric wrote the following
alarmed comment:

IN [sic] the US, these recombinant SARS CoV are studied under
BSL3, not BSL2, especially important for those that are able to bind
and replicate in primary human cells. In [C]hina, might be growin
[sic] these viruses under bsl2 [sic]. US researchers will likely freak
out.7

It appears Dr. Baric then edited the document to reflect that the experiments should be carried
out in BSL-3. Pursuant to the BMBL, the chimeric virus experiments in the DEFUSE proposal
should have been conducted in BSL-3 or enhanced BSL-3.8

The Committees are alarmed at the divergence between your statements and your
comments in the DEFUSE draft. These revelations undermine your credibility as well as every
factual assertion you made during your transcribed interview. The Committees have a right and
an obligation to protect the integrity of their investigations, including the accuracy of testimony
during a transcribed interview. We invite you to correct the record.

III. Requests for Further Information

In the Committees’ September 29, 2023 letter, we requested documents and information
relating to multiple different topics. This letter serves as a record of what requests the
Committees believe to be sufficiently responded to and what requests are outstanding.

6
Id.
7
Supra, note 4.
8
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH AND CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, U.S. DEP’T. OF HEALTH
AND HUMAN SERVICES, BIOSAFETY IN MICROBIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL LABORATORIES, at 4 (6th ed. June 2020)
(Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) is appropriate for agents with a known potential for aerosol transmission, for agents that
may cause serious and potentially lethal infections, and that are indigenous or exotic in origin.)
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 4

September 29, 2023 Letter

1. All calendars from November 1, 2019, through present [September 29, 2023] for Dr.
Peter Daszak.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

2. All phone records from November 1, 2019, through present [September 29, 2023] for Dr.
Peter Daszak.

Please produce or notify the Committees you are unable to access the following records
by April 11, 2024:9

a. Pursuant to conversations with counsel, all phone records from November 1, 2019
through January 13, 2021. Consistent with the September 29 Letter, the
Committees request you prioritize documents sufficient to show any meetings,
phone calls, or other interactions between Dr. Daszak and the federal government
or any entity in China.

3. A list of EcoHealth employees, contractors, or otherwise affiliated individuals that visited
the Wuhan Institute of Virology since January 1, 2018.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

4. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc.,
including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals, and the
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including but not limited to the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, between January 1, 2014, and present.

Please produce the following records by April 11, 2024:

a. Documents and communications regarding the reinstatement of the grant entitled
“Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence;”

b. Documents and communications regarding the suspension or debarment of the
Wuhan Institute of Virology; and

c. Documents and communications regarding the competitive renewal of the grant
entitled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.”

9
If counsel is unable to access these records, the notification to the Committees should also include the applicable
cellular provider so the Committees may evaluate the use of the compulsory process.
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 5

5. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals, and the
Department of State between January 1, 2014, and present.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

6. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation between January 1, 2014, and present.
Please produce the following records by April 11, 2024:

a. Pursuant to conversations with counsel, all documents and communications
between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc, including any of its subsidiaries,
affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals, and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation between January 1, 2014, and present.

7. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals, and the
Department of Energy between January 1, 2014, and present.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

8. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals, and the
Intelligence Community, including but not limited to the Office of the Director of
National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency, between January 1, 2014, and
present.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

9. All documents and communications between or among yourself and employees or
contractors of the White House, including but not limited to the Executive Office of the
President and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, between January 1, 2014, and
present.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

10. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals, and the Wuhan Institute of
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 6

Virology, including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated individuals,
between January 1, 2014, and present.

Please produce the following records by April 18, 2024:

a. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals, and the Wuhan Institute
of Virology, including any of its subsidiaries, affiliated institutions, or affiliated
individuals, between December 15, 2019 and present, including but not limited to:

i. Documents and communications regarding he origins of COVID-19, or
SARS-CoV-2, or any iteration thereof;

ii. Documents and communications regarding the suspension or debarment of
the Wuhan Institute of Virology;

iii. Documents and communications regarding EcoHealth’s efforts to obtain
WIV laboratory notebooks pursuant to NIH oversight and compliance
efforts;

iv. Documents and communications regarding all humanized or transgenic
mice experiments conducted at the WIV;

v. Documents and communications, including drafts with the underlying
metadata, regarding EcoHealth’s Year 4 and Year 5 progress reports
produced to the NIH pursuant to the grant entitled “Understanding the
Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence”;

vi. Documents and communications regarding the biosafety standards
employed by the WIV, including if the WIV follows the applicable
Biosafety and Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories standards;
and

vii. Documents and communications regarding the reinstatement of the grant
entitled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,”
including but not limited to any efforts to access or retain sequences or
samples.

11. All coronavirus-based research proposals, including those submitted for private funding,
that include any work to be conducted or supported by individuals or institutions in China
or Southeast Asia between January 1, 2014, and January 1, 2020, including proposals that
were declined, denied, or otherwise ultimately not funded.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 7

12. All proposals that implicate gain-of-function-based, Potential Pandemic Pathogens (PPP),
Enhanced Potential Pandemic Pathogens(ePPP), or Dual Use Research of Concern
(DURC) research issues, including those submitted for private funding, between January
1, 2018, and January 1, 2020, including proposals that were declined, denied, or
otherwise ultimately not funded.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

13. Copies of all grants, contracts, memorandums, and/or other documents executed between
January 1, 2014, and present that involve the following, any iterations thereof, or
affiliated individuals as parties:

a. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill;
b. New York Blood Center;
c. Georgia State University;
d. Wuhan Institute of Virology;
e. Wuhan Center for Disease Control;
f. Wuhan University;
g. Chinese Academy of Sciences;
h. People’s Liberation Army; or
i. Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

Please produce the following records by April 18, 2024:

a. All data sharing contracts, memorandums, or agreements between EcoHealth and
the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and

b. All subgrant documents between EcoHealth and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

14. Copies of purchase orders, invoices, material transfer agreements, shipping orders or
manifests, and/or any other documents sufficient to show, what if any, genetic material
was obtained or shipped between January 1, 2014, and present pursuant to any research,
publicly or privately funded, involving the following, any iterations thereof, or affiliated
individuals:

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

15. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals and any of the individuals listed
in Appendix I plus the individuals listed below regarding or referencing the
Correspondence in The Lancet titled, “Statement in support of the scientists, public health
professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19” and the
Correspondence in Nature Medicine titled, “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2.”

a. Dr. Charles Calisher;
b. Dr. Dennis Carroll;
c. Dr. Rita Colwell;
d. Dr. Ronald Corley;
e. Dr. Luis Enjuanes;
f. Dr. Hume Field;
g. Dr. Josie Golding;
h. Dr. Alexander Gorbalenya;
i. Dr. Bart Haagmans;
j. Dr. James Hughes;
k. Dr. William Karesh;
l. Dr. Gerald Keusch;
m. Dr. Sai Kit Lam;
n. Dr. Juan Lubroth;
o. Dr. John Mackenzie;
p. Dr. Larry Madoff;
q. Dr. Joanna Mazet;
r. Dr. Peter Palese;
s. Dr. Stanley Perlman;
t. Dr. Leo Poon;
u. Dr. Bernard Roizman;
v. Dr. Linda Saif;
w. Dr. Kanta Subbarao; and
x. Dr. Mike Turner.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

16. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals and any of the individuals listed
in Appendix I regarding or referencing the origins of COVID-19.

Please produce the following records by April 18, 2024:
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 9

a. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals and any of the individuals
listed in Appendix I regarding or referencing the origins of COVID-19.

17. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals and any employee or contractor
of the Defense Advanced Research Project agency regarding the DEFUSE proposal for
the project entitled PREEMPT.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

18. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals and any employee or contractor
of the Department of Health and Human Services, including but not limited to the
National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases, regarding the DEFUSE proposal for the project entitled PREEMPT.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

19. All documents and communications between or among EcoHealth Alliance, Inc,
including any of its subsidiaries or affiliated individuals and the following entities,
including affiliated individuals, regarding the DEFUSE proposal for the project entitled
PREEMPT.

a. Duke-National University Singapore Medical School;
b. National Wildlife Center, United States Geological Survey;
c. University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; and
d. Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Pursuant to the applicable productions and attestations made by counsel, the
Committees consider this request closed.

***

In addition to fulfilling requests (2), (4), (6), (10), (13), and (16), testimony, documents,
and our continued investigation necessitates the Committees request further information. Please
produce the following documents and communications as soon as possible but no later than
April 25, 2024:

1. All documents and communications sufficient to corroborate claims of cyber-attacks
against EcoHealth Alliance, Inc that occurred from December 2019 through present.
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 10

2. A copy of the spreadsheet attached to the April 24, 2020 email sent by Metabiota Senior
Management Developer to an EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. Research Scientist.10

3. All documents and communications regarding sampling expeditions conducted with the
Wuhan Institute of Virology that were provided to the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Inspector General.

4. A list of all science communicators, public relations experts, social media influencers,
and crisis management consultants retained or otherwise used by EcoHealth Alliance,
Inc. since January 2020.

5. All drafts of the 2017 paper “Discovery of a Rich Gene Pool of Bat SARS-related
Coronaviruses Provides New Insights into the Origins of SARS Coronaviruses;”

6. All drafts of the EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. grant application submitted in 2019 in response
to the National Science Foundation Notice of Funding Opportunity 2011162;

7. All communications between EcoHealth Alliance, Inc. and United States Agency for
International Development regarding the Global Virome Project or the WIV from January
2018 to the present.

The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic is authorized to investigate “the
origins of the Coronavirus pandemic, including but not limited to the Federal Government’s
funding of gain-of function research” and “executive branch policies, deliberations, decisions,
activities, and internal and external communications related to the coronavirus pandemic,” under
H. Res. 5. The Committee on Energy and Commerce is the authorizing committee with
jurisdiction and oversight responsibilities for public health service agencies, including the
National Institutes of Health and the entities it funds, as well as federal biomedical research and
development.

If you have any questions about this request, please contact Select Subcommittee Staff at
202-225-5074. Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely,

Brad Wenstrup, D.P.M. James Comer
Chairman Chairman
Select Subcommittee on the Committee on Oversight and
Coronavirus Pandemic Accountability

10
Email from Tammie O’Roake, Metabiota, to Hongying Li, EcoHealth (Apr. 24, 2024), https://usrtk.org/wp-
content/uploads/2022/01/China-GenBank-sequences.pdf.
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 11

Cathy McMorris Rodgers Morgan Griffith
Chair Chair
Committee on Energy and Subcommittee on Oversight and
Commerce Investigations

Brett Guthrie
Chair
Subcommittee on Health

cc: The Honorable Raul Ruiz, M.D., Ranking Member
Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Honorable Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and Accountability

The Honorable Frank Pallone, Jr. Ranking Member
Committee on Energy and Commerce

The Honorable Kathy Castor, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

The Honorable Anna Eshoo, Ranking Member,
Subcommittee on Health
Peter Daszak, Ph. D.
April 4, 2024
Page 12

Appendix I

1. Individuals:

a. Dr. Francis Collins;
b. Dr. Anthony Fauci;
c. Dr. Lawrence Tabak;
d. Dr. Hugh Auchincloss;
e. Mr. Greg Folkers;
f. Dr. Cliff Lane;
g. Dr. Ping Chen;
h. Dr. Gray Handley;
i. Dr. Erik Stemmy;
j. Dr. Michael Lauer;
k. Dr. Emily Erbelding;
l. Dr. David Morens.
m. Dr. Jeremy Farrar;
n. Dr. Kristian Andersen;
o. Dr. Robert Garry;
p. Dr. W. Ian Lipkin;
q. Dr. Edward Holmes;
r. Dr. Michael Farzan;
s. Dr. Christian Drosten;
t. Dr. Ron Fouchier;
u. Dr. Marion Koopmans;
v. Dr. Ralph Baric;
w. Dr. Peter Daszak;
x. Dr. James LeDuc;
y. Dr. Victor Dzau;
z. Dr. Shi Zhengli;
aa. Dr. Ben Hu;
bb. Dr. Yu Ping;
cc. Dr. Lanying Du;
dd. Dr. Yan Zhu; and
ee. Dr. Zhou Yusen.

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