A Senate panel investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci has reportedly obtained a copy of the cellphone he used during the COVID-19 pandemic ahead of a key committee vote Thursday to hold him in contempt of Congress. 
The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/anthony-fauci-covid-phone-senate-96ebd8be?st=68LAAW">Wall Street Journal</a> reported Wednesday that the Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, transferred a copy of the phone&#8217;s records to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 
Fauci used the phone during his tenure as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to The Journal, which also revealed that Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have obtained &#8220;millions of additional Fauci-related pages&#8221; from government servers.
On Wednesday, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/when-it-comes-to-anthony-fauci-rand-paul-is-just-getting-started?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=Original&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=When+It+Comes+To+Anthony+Fauci%2C+Rand+Paul+Is+Just+Getting+Started">The Daily Wire</a> interviewed Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, whose release of Fauci&#8217;s private diaries helped set the stage for an explosive Capitol Hill hearing where Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
“Historically, votes like this have gone to the full Senate, but I think there’s no absolute rule that says we can’t send it directly to the Department of Justice,” Paul said. “So my plan is that if we win the vote on Thursday, to immediately send it to the Department of Justice with a recommendation for prosecution, even if it passes the whole Senate.”
Paul’s office sent two criminal referrals to the Biden Justice Department, the senator said, and two more under President Donald Trump’s administration.
“This will be the first time that our entire committee or the majority of our committee sends it,” he noted. “So we’ll see what happens. We’ll discuss with [Senate Majority Leader John] Thune whether or not he thinks he can get the votes to do it on the floor.”
A floor vote would require 60 votes to pass, meaning Democrats would have to cooperate. Last week, Thune said that Fauci’s answers were “completely inadequate” and that the floor vote was “certainly an option that ought to be available to us.”
Paul told The Daily Wire that he does not expect Democrats to support a contempt vote and that he wants the Justice Department to prosecute Fauci for contempt of Congress. He plans to send the DOJ a legal brief arguing that Fauci could not invoke the Fifth Amendment because President Joe Biden&#8217;s pardon eliminated any risk of self-incrimination, leaving him with only an obligation to answer truthfully.
Statutory penalties for <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/2/192">contempt of Congress</a>, a federal misdemeanor, carry fines between $100 and $100,000 and a mandatory sentence of one to 12 months in prison.
“This is an important case because I think a lot of people anticipate that President Trump is going to issue similar pardons to many people in his administration who will end up being called before Congress, and the precedent here is important,” Mark Osler, a law professor and pardon power expert, told the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fauci-fifth-amendment-congress-justice-department-paul-868a0dfcf016d830571fb6a78afae4f9">Associated Press. </a>
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US-POLITICS-HEALTH-VIRUS-HEARING

Fauci’s COVID Phone Turned Over To Senate Panel Ahead Of Contempt Vote

Anthony Fauci

Coronavirus

COVID-19

fauci diaries

Health

Investigations

News

Pandemic

Politics

Rand Paul

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Senate

U.S. Senate

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, appears to have misled Congress about the coronavirus fatality rate in the early days of the pandemic, making statements in private that contradicted his public testimony.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) released a <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_politics_article_main-content_article-body_6_1">trove of previously private Fauci diaries</a> ahead of his expected testimony this Wednesday before a key oversight committee. 
A February 8, 2020, journal entry shows Fauci recounting a phone call with former CDC Director Tom Frieden in which he compared the novel coronavirus to a &#8220;bad influenza&#8221; and predicted a lower-than-expected fatality rate.
The Daily Wire is publishing excerpts from Fauci’s journal without any edits or spelling corrections.
“Tom Frieden called me this AM and we discussed various aspects of the outbreak. He and I are on the same page in thinking tht this is acting like a bad influenza in its transmissibility and that the denominator is much greater than 34,867 (above) making the case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 % rather than 2.0%,” he wrote. 
At that moment, Fauci estimated more than 34,000 infections and 724 deaths.  
About a month later, however, the physician — who privately blushed about his rising public profile — presented Congress with a markedly different assessment of the disease. <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20200312/110713/HHRG-116-GO00-Transcript-20200312.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Testifying under oath</a> at a March 11 hearing, Fauci responded to a question from Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) about the similarities between COVID-19 and influenza.
“The seasonal flu that we deal with every year has a mortality of 0.1 percent. The stated mortality overall of this when you look at all the data including China is about three percent. It first started off as two and now three,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp717hJVI5Y&amp;t=2810s">Fauci told the panel.</a> &#8220;I think if you count all the cases of minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic infection, that probably brings the mortality rate down to somewhere around one percent, which means it is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu. I think that is something that people can get their arms around and understand.&#8221;
During the hearing, Cloud questioned Fauci about whether COVID-19 was more lethal than previous diseases, including H1N1, commonly known as swine flu.
“No, absolutely not,” Fauci said. “The 2009 pandemic of H1N1 was even less lethal than the regular seasonal flu.” 
“I&#8217;m trying to help the American people know where to appropriately set their gauge,” Cloud fired back. 
Fauci doubled down on the alarm bells, despite privately downplaying the virus&#8217;s lethality.
“I think to set the gauge is that this is a really serious problem that we have to take seriously. I mean, people always say, &#8216;Well, the flu, you know, the flu does this, the flu does that.&#8217; The flu has a mortality of 0.1 percent,” Fauci said. “This has a mortality of 10 times that, and that&#8217;s the reason why I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this.” 
The newly revealed contradictions come after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-fauci-diaries-reveal-celebrity-obsession-at-height-of-covid-crisis?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=New+Fauci+Diaries+Reveal+Celebrity+Obsession+At+Height+Of+COVID+Crisis">The Daily Wire reported</a> Fauci’s obsession with media attention as the coronavirus pandemic claimed lives and overwhelmed hospitals around the globe.
“Press still hot and heavy about me,” Fauci wrote on April 7, 2020. “Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”
Weeks later, hundreds of thousands of infections spread worldwide, and nearly 10,000 had died from the virus when Fauci penned the following journal entry on May 21, 2020. 
“Big front page article abut me appeared in the Washington Post. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyoperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson in the world,” Fauci wrote.

Dr. Fauci Testifies To Senate Health Committee On Country’s COVID-19 Response

Fauci’s Personal Diary Highlights Shocking Contradiction On COVID Fatality Rate

Congress

Dr. Fauci

Rep. Cloud

Science

Senator Paul

A coronavirus-era housing bailout program spent $10 billion paying Americans&#8217; mortgages and homeowner association dues. But explicit racial preferences steered nearly half of the funds to black Americans, who make up just 12% of the population, a Daily Wire analysis found.
The <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments/homeowner-assistance-fund" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Homeowner Assistance Fund</a> is one of the largest race-based government wealth transfers in history. It has largely escaped scrutiny since it launched amid a global pandemic and a stream of other federal bailouts. But now, white residents in several states have filed lawsuits alleging that they were illegally discriminated against.
The lawsuits target Republican-led states that the plaintiffs say went along with the program in Joe Biden&#8217;s American Rescue Plan, even though it was up to each state to implement its own rules, and the Biden administration offered racial criteria only as non-binding suggestions.
In Georgia, for example, 82% of the funds — made up of payments for up to $50,000 — went to blacks. Only 13% went to whites, and 4% went to Hispanics. The lawsuit argues that this can&#8217;t be due to income disparities alone, given the high rate of poverty among white people in the state.
&#8220;This dramatic difference cannot be explained by income disparities or other race-independent reasons,&#8221; a <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gasd.107818/gov.uscourts.gasd.107818.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuit</a> filed in January says. &#8220;For example, comparing census and poverty rate data, about 50.5% of Georgia citizens below the poverty line are black and 45.6% are white.&#8221;
The lawsuit is against the state&#8217;s Department of Community Affairs, whose leaders are appointed by Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican who has led the state since 2019. It alleges that the $354 million plan submitted by Georgia, and approved in January 2022, to use the funds included plans for a public awareness campaign that would send text messages to residents in &#8220;30 out of Georgia’s 152 counties&#8221; that were selected based on, among other things, “minority population.”
The state also &#8220;approved applications from applicants of its preferred racial and ethnic groups at a higher rate than those from white applicants. Out of all non-white applicants, about 20.04% of applicants were approved while out of all white applicants, about 12.74% of applicants were approved,&#8221; the suit says.
The federal program <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAF-Guidance.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">required</a> that each state allocate at least 60% of the funds to homeowners with incomes below the median. People with higher-than-average incomes could get the remaining money, but that portion &#8220;must be prioritized for assistance to socially disadvantaged individuals, with funds remaining after such prioritization being made available for other eligible homeowners.&#8221;
In other words, poor people of all races could always qualify for the grant, but certain other groups could also get it because they&#8217;re &#8220;disadvantaged,&#8221; even though they actually had more money than most.
The lawsuit stated that Congress had not defined &#8220;socially disadvantaged individuals.&#8221; But in April 2021, the Biden administration &#8220;provided a recommended definition&#8221; that said &#8220;Socially disadvantaged individuals are those who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias &#8230; There is a rebuttable presumption that the following individuals are socially disadvantaged: Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.&#8221;
Georgia, Missouri, and Oklahoma are being sued after the deep-red states chose to adopt that definition, even though it was optional, unlike other states. Deep-blue California, for example, administered the housing-cost bailout by <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAFP-0108-California-Salesforce-Submission.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defining</a> socially disadvantaged as residents who live in Census tracts where the <a href="https://knowledge.luskin.ucla.edu/ca-covid-19-owner-vulnerability/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ratio</a> of housing costs to available income has historically made residents most vulnerable to foreclosure. <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAFP-0096-Texas-SalesforceSubmission.pdf">Texas</a> defined it as people who &#8220;reside in a Persistent Poverty County.&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-968057 size-full" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race.png" alt="" width="1113" height="1636" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race.png 1113w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-204x300.png 204w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-392x576.png 392w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-768x1129.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/haf-race-1045x1536.png 1045w" sizes=" (max-width: 1113px) 100vw, 1113px" /></div>
Kemp spokesman Carter Chapman declined to discuss why Georgia adopted the race-based definition, instead saying he has a record of &#8220;fighting DEI in our state,&#8221; including signing bills restricting childhood gender transitions. The state&#8217;s Department of Community Affairs did not return a request for comment.
Georgia Attorney General Christopher M. Carr is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, filing a motion in June that stated the state&#8217;s use of race was &#8220;entirely consistent with the Treasury’s definitions.&#8221;
&#8220;The Treasury’s and DCA’s definition of socially disadvantaged individuals included, but was not limited to, people who had been subject to racial prejudice, and it also included those who have been subject to cultural bias, which is not a racial classification,&#8221; Carr says.
&#8220;The program allowed white applicants to be considered socially disadvantaged merely by submitting an affidavit stating that they &#8216;identify as a Socially Disadvantaged Individual,'&#8221; he wrote.
Carr is a Republican who has held his position since 2016 and has criticized DEI policies elsewhere, including at Costco and the American Bar Association. Carr spokeswoman Kara Murray told The Daily Wire that &#8220;Attorney General Carr had no involvement in the implementation of this program in Georgia. Once the lawsuit was filed, our office’s role was to defend the State in court, and that’s what we have done.&#8221;
In Missouri, the program was implemented by the Missouri Housing Development Commission, a <a href="https://mhdc.com/about-us/commissioners/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10-person board</a> that includes the state&#8217;s governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, and attorney general — all of whom are Republicans.
Yet when the federal government asked Missouri how it would define &#8220;socially disadvantaged individual,&#8221; it <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/HAFP-0080-Missouri-SalesforceSubmission.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it would adopt &#8220;Treasury’s definition of socially disadvantaged individuals,&#8221; and use software that would flag people as disadvantaged in part based on which box they checked when asked about race and ethnicity.
A lawsuit said that &#8220;In marketing and advertising its program to inform Missouri citizens about the availability of funds and how to apply, MHDC targeted outreach to racial minorities,&#8221; including partnering with the Black Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Forty-four percent of the loan money went to black residents, who make up less than 12% of the population.
Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe was a member of the housing commission during the program&#8217;s inception, serving in his then-role as lieutenant governor. Kehoe spokeswoman Gabby Picard said &#8220;As this is pending litigation, we are not able to comment on the specifics of this case,&#8221; but that &#8220;Kehoe has been a strong advocate for removing DEI within state government,&#8221; signing an executive order &#8220;directing all Missouri state agencies to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and ensure compliance with the constitutional principle of equal protection under the law.&#8221;
Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, was not a member of the housing commission when the state decided how to implement the federal program because he took office in 2023. But Bailey responded to the lawsuit in court papers in May, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.moed.213696/gov.uscourts.moed.213696.64.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a> that &#8220;Defendants were merely administering a federal program in accordance with federal mandates, rules, guidelines, regulations, and/or applicable laws &#8230; The Defendants applied neutral criteria when administering the program. Defendants acted in good faith reliance on Treasury and federal guidance, and had no reason to believe the program would have a discriminatory impact.&#8221;
Bailey joined the Trump administration last month as co-deputy director of the FBI. A spokeswoman for his old office, Abigail Bergmann, told The Daily Wire that &#8220;the Biden Administration applied pressure to states to adopt these policies, and Missouri’s program was established before Attorney General Bailey was elected to office. As Attorney General, it is his statutory duty to represent MHDC in court. But thanks to his leadership, MHDC today has been stripped of the Biden-era racist policies that Missourians should never have been subjected to in the first place.”
In Oklahoma, five white residents who did not receive housing assistance, including a massage therapist who lost her job due to the pandemic and her disabled-veteran husband, <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. &#8220;On the front page of its Oklahoma Homeowner Assistance Fund program website, OHFA stated that a homeowner is a socially disadvantaged individual if the homeowner is a “[m]ember of a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American Society: African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, LGBTQ+,” the suit said.
That <a href="https://perma.cc/Y6VR-EQ4C" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> says residents of &#8220;minority-majority census tracts&#8221; are also among the &#8220;socially disadvantaged&#8221; who &#8220;are eligible to receive a one-time grant award up to a maximum of $35,000.&#8221; It states that applications were accepted until March 2024. The state allocated $87 million, and 26% of it went to black residents, despite their making up only 7% of the state&#8217;s population.
The lawsuit said &#8220;Because of this race-based classification, a white or Asian homeowner with household size of 3 in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, could not apply for relief in 2023 if the homeowner’s income was greater than $96,200 (100% AMI) unless he or she could otherwise qualify as socially disadvantaged, but a black or Latino homeowner with the same household size could apply with an income of up to $116,110 (150% AMI). This is just one of many ways in which OHFA’s race-based program discriminated against white and Asian homeowners.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_542577" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-542577" class="size-large wp-image-542577" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-864x576.jpg" alt="DALLAS, TEXAS, UNITED STATES - 2022/08/05: Governor of Oklahoma Kevin Stitt speaks during CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole in Dallas." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/05/GettyImages-1242358048.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt speaks during CPAC (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)</div>
It said OHFA worked with the African Methodist Episcopal Church to market the program.
&#8220;OHFA specifically informed socially disadvantaged individuals about the program and assisted those individuals through the application process but did not do the same for white or Asian homeowners. This made it more likely that individuals deemed socially disadvantaged based on race would receive funding at the expense of white and Asian homeowners who were eligible to receive funding but to whom OHFA did not provide the same information or assistance,&#8221; the suit said.
&#8220;OHFA could have administered its program in a race-neutral way. Instead, it discriminated against white and Asian homeowners in favor of homeowners from preferred racial groups. But COVID-19 did not discriminate. Oklahoma homeowners of all races needed assistance. OHFA’s racial discrimination is plainly unlawful,&#8221; it said.
All of Oklahoma&#8217;s top officials are Republican, and a board appointed by the governor runs the Oklahoma Housing Finance Agency. The housing board&#8217;s chair, Michael Buehl, was appointed in 2019 to a five-year term by Governor Kevin Stitt. Stitt then re-appointed him in 2024, after Buehl oversaw the race-based program. Stitt did not return a request for comment.
The housing agency is currently vigorously defending the program, hiring private lawyers who <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299/gov.uscourts.okwd.129299.41.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filed</a> a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in March. The motion said that according to the Attorney General, OHFA is classified as a &#8220;state beneficiary public trust&#8221; that is &#8220;separate and distinct from&#8221; the state.
A spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, who has publicly opposed DEI and stated in 2023 that one of his priorities was investigating the misuse of COVID funds, did not respond to questions.

Republican Candidate For Governor Brian Kemp Attends Election Night Event In Athens, Georgia

How A Biden Housing Bailout Steered Billions Based On Race — With Red State Help

Georgia

Missouri

Oklahoma

Red States

A USAID employee in charge of managing contracts for the agency created a fake company to fraudulently secure coronavirus benefits for himself, federal prosecutors said Friday.
“Yusuf Akoll worked as a Senior Procurement Contract Specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development,” according to a previously unreported <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.280449/gov.uscourts.dcd.280449.2.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">court document</a>. “From at least in or around March 2021, and continuing through at least in or around August 2021, Akoll [made] materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements…that resulted in Akoll receiving two [Paycheck Protection Program] loans totaling approximately $16,666 that he was not entitled to receive.”
Prosecutors said that in November 2020, Akoll registered a company in Virginia called Naagode Consulting LLC, then applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan under the coronavirus bailout package, claiming he worked at Naagode and the money was necessary to prevent job losses.
Only companies in operation in February 2020 were eligible, so he falsely said it was established in January 2020. To establish a loss of income, he said the company had $40,000 in income in 2019 when it actually had no income, prosecutors said.
Akoll was accused of making false statements in Washington, D.C., federal court via an “information,” which typically signals a plea deal.
The fact that the money was paid out highlights how carelessly the government disbursed massive sums during coronavirus. The claim that the company had $40,000 in revenue in 2019 contradicts his own claim that it didn’t exist until January 2020.
The fact that Small Business Administration officials didn’t check state corporation records and catch the fact that it was actually established in November 2020 — or federal tax returns to verify the $40,000 — indicate that the government wasn’t doing basic database cross-referencing, the kind of thing the Department of Government Efficiency has made its bread and butter.
USAID was shuttered, with its remnants folded into the State Department, amidst concern by Republicans and the Department of Government Efficiency that the money was mismanaged. Akoll was in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing to foreign countries, where the money could be difficult to monitor, records <a href="https://www.highergov.com/people/yakoll-usaid-dot-gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>.
Coronavirus payments were disbursed with little vetting under a “pay and chase” model, where fraudulent claims would ostensibly be recovered later. But the Biden administration quickly gave up on chasing.
The Biden administration said in 2023 that it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sba-wont-even-try-to-collect-on-ppp-loans-that-are-supposed-to-be-paid-back-citing-equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would not seek to collect</a> on loans of less than $100,000 that were required to be paid back, citing “equity.” Most of the loans were designed to be forgiven, but those who did not meet the requirements were supposed to repay them.
That’s despite the Small Business Administration’s inspector general saying the move “is not in compliance with applicable criteria,” and that not even attempting to stop people from cheating the government encouraged future fraud.  
Congress nearly let the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, which was set up to police fraud in the pandemic bailout, expire in March 2025, which would have quickly closed the book on the government’s largest and most chaotic payment frenzy ever.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery had only recovered three dollars for every dollar spent on its staff, which should have been higher. <a href="https://www.courtwatch.news/p/court-watch-112-you-re-about-to-lose-577-billion-dollars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CourtWatch</a>, which advocated for its continuance, said the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery had meager resources of only a few dozen employees, and that shutting it down could lead to even less recovery. CourtWatch said the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery had open investigations into $577 million in suspected fraud.
 Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the head of the Senate DOGE Caucus, fought to keep the inspector general, saying, “I will not allow fraudsters to get away with stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers.”
The head of Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions testified to Congress that criminals stole <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/witness-at-first-doge-hearing-confronts-lawmakers-with-scale-of-covid-fraud-they-stole-1-trillion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 trillion</a> in COVID money, most of which went overseas.

Trump And Musk’s USAID ‘Shut Down’ Threat Opens Door For China

USAID Contracting Officer Charged With Pandemic Bailout Fraud

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Joni Ernst

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

USAID

Federal agencies appear to be obstructing the release of documents that could provide vital insights into the Biden administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and its broader global health agenda.
The <a href="https://gateway.zscalertwo.net/_sm_ctn?_sm_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.phralliance.org%2F&amp;_sm_rid=0kNJfQq1Jt3Vss1PNfNQFtvvn7McsctQP4Jq0TN&amp;_sm_cat=Miscellaneous%2Bor%2BUnknown">Public Health Reform Alliance</a>, an organization that advocates for increased transparency in the public health bureaucracy, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in October 2024, asking for the communications of Biden’s United States Global Health Security Coordinator, Stephanie Psaki. Psaki is the sister of Jen Psaki, who was Biden&#8217;s White House press secretary.
The government has thus far prevented the release of information, with the OSTP and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) each denying that they have the documents, and redirecting the requester to the other agency.
There has been a massive political and social backlash to the secrecy, and apparent lies, regarding the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Americans&#8217; lives were upended in the wake of the virus and the ensuing response from the government. Years after businesses were shuttered, vaccines were mandated, and students were held out of schools, Americans are still largely in the dark about what science it was all grounded in and how we&#8217;re working to make sure it never happens again.
The Public Health Reform Alliance has run into a series of roadblocks as its attempted to obtain documents that it says would shed light on the prior administration&#8217;s approach to an issue that intimately impacted the lives of everyday Americans. Its director, Martin Hoyt, told The Daily Wire that Psaki’s communications could be vital for understanding the government’s approach to global health issues, and for forecasting how the government might respond to future crises.
“After enduring the most serious public health emergency in a century, these communications may be an integral part of the U.S. government&#8217;s next response to a pandemic or health security threat. This is an issue of transparency,” Hoyt explained. “We need to understand the extent to which our public health establishment was aligned with, followed or bucked the guidance of unaccountable, politicized and possibly compromised bodies like the WHO.”
The younger Psaki served as a Senior Advisor on Human Rights and Gender Equity at the Department of Health and Human Services&#8217; Office of Global Affairs before taking her post at OSTP.
The Biden administration explained the <a href="https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Global-Health-Security-Strategy-2024-1.pdf">role</a> of the OSTP, writing in one report that it is tasked with leading “interagency science and technology policy coordination efforts” while also serving “as a source of scientific and technological analysis and judgment for the President with respect to major policies, plans, and programs of the Federal Government.”
OSTP rerouted the request from the Public Health Reform Alliance, informing the organization that the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) would handle the request for the documents.
“OSTP was unable to locate any responsive records because they have been transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration,” the office said in a February 19 email viewed by The Daily Wire.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-906571 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/OSTP-FOIA-300x300.png" alt="" width="625" height="625" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/OSTP-FOIA-300x300.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/OSTP-FOIA-150x150.png 150w" sizes=" (max-width: 625px) 100vw, 625px" /></div>
NARA then told the Public Health Reform Alliance on March 3 that it had received the request, before going on to inform the organization that it did not have custody of the documents in a follow up email on March 19. NARA then directed the Public Health Reform Alliance back to the OSTP, despite the White House office previously stating that the documents had already been transferred.
“I have confirmed this morning that the National Archives does not yet have legal custody of the records from the Office of Science and Technology Policy from the Biden administration,” the March 19 email read. “I apologize for routing you back to them, as I know they sent you to us, but until such time as legal custody is transferred, the Office of Science and Technology Policy must be the agency to respond to you.”
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class=" wp-image-906581 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NARA-FOIA-300x148.png" alt="" width="857" height="423" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NARA-FOIA-300x148.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NARA-FOIA-1024x505.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NARA-FOIA-768x379.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/NARA-FOIA.png 1278w" sizes=" (max-width: 857px) 100vw, 857px" /></div>
Then, after being directed to NARA by OSTP and back to OSTP by NARA, OSTP told the Public Health Reform Alliance again that it would have to receive the documents from NARA in a March 20 email.
“We submitted a search to the e-discovery component prior to the final letter. That search returned zero hits because the files have been transferred to NARA as indicated in our final correspondence,” that email from OSTP to the Public Health Reform Alliance read.
“The American public lived and, tragically, died by the government&#8217;s edicts and recommendations,” Hoyt told The Daily Wire. “The American public deserves to know how they were formulated as well as the true intent and direction that this government planned to lead the nation for the next five years.”
Neither the OSTP nor NARA responded to a request for comment.

Biden getting vaccine

They Went Looking For Biden’s Global Health Strategy Plan. It’s Nowhere To Be Found.

Biden Administration

COVID

The Department of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/health-and-human-services" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Health and Human Services</a> (HHS) has blocked EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak from being eligible for taxpayer-funded research projects. 
In a <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/HHS-SUSP4D-Notice-of-Dr.-Peter-Daszak_05.21.2024_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> made public on Wednesday by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the HHS informed Daszak that the agency has suspended him from being eligible for government grant money and is moving to make the suspension permanent. The letter comes after Daszak’s organization has come under fire for its ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, from which COVID is suspected by multiple federal agencies to have leaked. 
A separate <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/HHS-SUSP4D-ARM-of-Dr.-Peter-Daszak_05.21.2024_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">document</a> from the HHS says that Daszak was not forthcoming with federal investigators in providing information on its work with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and in demonstrating that the EcoHealth Alliance had not violated the terms of its federal grant. 
Specifically, HHS said that neither the EcoHealth Alliance nor the Wuhan lab disproved allegations that an experiment at the lab yielded an unapproved increase in viral activity. 
“I also find that the information in the record constitutes adequate evidence to demonstrate that the suspension and proposed debarment of Dr. Peter Daszak is necessary due to a cause of so serious or compelling a nature that it affects his present responsibility,” the document, written by an unidentified, HHS official said. 
The suspension of Daszak began on Tuesday and will continue as the NIH moves to formally debar the scientist. 
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“EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak’s personal debarment will ensure he never again receives a single cent from U.S. taxpayers nor has the opportunity to start a new, untrustworthy organization,” <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/breaking-hhs-to-debar-dr-peter-daszak-president-of-ecohealth-alliance/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup. This step comes just two weeks after the Select Subcommittee released substantial evidence of Dr. Daszak’s contempt for the American people, his flagrant disregard for the risks associated with gain-of-function research, and his willful violation of the terms of his NIH grant.”
The proposed block on Daszak comes after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hhs-moves-to-defund-ecohealth-alliance-says-action-needed-to-protect-the-public-interest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news broke</a> that the HHS would be suspending funding to the EcoHealth Alliance and moving to permanently bar the organization from receiving federal funds. 
“Dr. Daszak’s impending debarment does not shield him from accountability to the American people. It appears that Dr. Daszak may have lied under oath about his relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and his compliance with NIH grant procedures,” Wenstrup added.

CHINA-HEALTH-VIRUS

HHS Blocks Prez Of Group Tied To Wuhan Lab From Receiving Federal Funds

China

Department of Health and Human Services

Wuhan Institute of Virology

The head of human resources for the District of Columbia&#8217;s library system, whose six-figure job entails ensuring that fellow government employees followed employment rules, was herself in massive violation of those rules — holding a second full-time job with a private company, which she did while supposedly working for taxpayers.
Lauren Graves lied to government investigators to cover up the fact that she had one full-time job and one part-time job, both of which she focused on while neglecting her government duties, according to the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability (BEGA). She was forced to pay a fine of $17,500, a small fraction of the money she earned while neglecting her taxpayer-funded job, and has resigned from her government post, according to the Washington Post.
Graves has worked as the DCPL&#8217;s Human Resources Director since November 2021, being paid $148,000 a year. Apparently the fact that she continued to work full-time for Blackstone Consulting as Senior Human Resources Manager — where she was paid an additional $144,000 a year — went unnoticed. She also worked part-time delivering babies as a doula, with a website where people could make appointments with her during the workday.
&#8220;Witness testimony revealed that the Respondent frequently could not be reached throughout the workday regardless of whether she worked in the office or virtually,&#8221; a <a href="https://bega.dc.gov/sites/bega/files/publication/attachments/23-0100p%20L.%20Graves.NEGOTIATED%20DISPOSITION.executed%204.4.24_Redacted.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BEGA document</a> from this month stated. &#8220;Our investigation revealed that Respondent misused her District government email by communicating with her outside employers from her District government email address. Respondent also forwarded various internal District government documents to her outside job at Blackstone such as technology agreements.&#8221;
Graves told investigators she worked the other jobs outside of her work hours, but this was false, they said. Their evidence included emails, contracts, and presentation schedules.
&#8220;Respondent acknowledges that her conduct was an egregious violation of the Code of Conduct. Respondent agrees to pay a fine in the amount of $17,500.00 to resolve this violation&#8230; Respondent agrees to payments in the amount of $383 bi-weekly, via automatic deduction from Respondent&#8217;s paycheck,&#8221; said the agreement, signed by Graves and Director of Government Ethics Ashley D. Cooks.
It would not have been hard to find out about Graves&#8217; other work. The Blackstone job is on her LinkedIn, which says she stopped the job in February 2024. It says she still works as CEO of &#8220;Cass &amp; Tree, LLC,&#8221; an HR firm, and as a doula.
The $17,000 penalty may amount to only a fraction of the taxpayer money that she squandered. Two-and-a-half years of a $148,000 salary is $370,000.
Her LinkedIn says her speciality is &#8220;DIVERSITY, EQUITY &amp; INCLUSION &#8211; Training, facilitation, climate assessments, project and change management; employee engagement. Anti-racism, Anti-bullying, sexual harassment training compliance; Allyship. Gender pay equity. LGBTQ ally training facilitation. Workplace gossip and victim shaming, Retaliation, Labor Relations and Union mediation.&#8221;
The case raises questions about how many other government employees are simply AWOL while &#8220;working remotely,&#8221; and how any of them could reasonably face consequences given the fact that the HR director who was supposed to be enforcing such rules was doing the same thing.
At the federal level, federal agencies have dragged their feet at returning to the office, despite repeated admonishments from President Joe Biden and his chief of staff that they must do so. Last month, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) wrote to the Acting Secretary of the Department of Labor to note that members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) had finally &#8220;<a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/telework_protest_letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed up</a> to the office&#8230; to protest for more telework.&#8221;

DC Public Library Director of Human Resources Lauren Graves / LinkedIn

High-Paid Government Official Had Second Job While ‘Remote Working’

Fraud

Washington D.C.

House Republicans announced an investigation on Friday into gain-of-function research at the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/university-of-wisconsin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">University of Wisconsin-Madison</a> that they said could be “dangerous.”
The <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2023.09.01-BRW-Letter-to-UW.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> was sent by Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) to UW Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin requesting information on the university’s gain-of-function research and any information on if the university had worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology or on any coronavirus projects. 
The letter pointed to previous problems identified with gain-of-function research at the university, but the university has said that the controversial research is “needed and highly regulated.” 
Wenstrup said that he disagreed with the university’s assertion that there was enough regulation on gain-of-function research, saying that previous use of gain-of-function research at the university proved otherwise. 
“UW has already shown it has the capabilities to modify pathogens and make them more dangerous. In 2011, Dr. Yoshihiro Kawaoka revealed to the world that he had modified the deadly avian H5N1 influenza virus so it could spread between ferrets. This experiment enabled the bird virus to spread more easily among mammals, particularly ferrets which most closely mimic human response to the flu. The H5N1 virus is considered a ‘potential pandemic pathogen,’ which through modification or handling could cause another global pandemic,” Wenstrup wrote. 
The letter also referenced several instances where gain-of-function research was being conducted at the university and scientists working on the projects ended up in quarantine. In one instance, a researcher pricked their finger with a needle that had engineered high pathogenic avian influenza on it and had to have their family stay at a hotel while quarantining at home. 
In response to these reports, some Republican lawmakers in the state have moved to ban gain-of-function research. Rep. Elijah Behnke, Rep. Ty Bodden, and Sen. André Jacque are working on a <a href="https://wisconsinhealthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/23-2947_1.pdf">bill</a> that would ban “institutions of higher education from conducting gain of function research on potentially pandemic pathogens, requiring reporting of the intention to conduct research on potentially pandemic pathogens, and providing a penalty.”
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The university has pushed back on the notion that the research is problematic, saying that it instead important for the public&#8217;s safety.
“The ability to safely study harmful viruses, bacteria and other pathogens is critically important for protecting public health and the food supply,” UW spokeswoman Kelly Tyrrell <a href="https://wisconsinhealthnews.com/2023/08/08/gop-lawmakers-seek-to-ban-gain-of-function-research-in-wisconsin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Wisconsin Health News. “UW-Madison is committed to ensuring that its researchers who work with high-risk pathogens have safe and secure laboratories and receive training and certification to ensure their investigations are conducted safely.”
Several federal government agencies believe that COVID likely escaped from a lab in China, potentially as they were conducting gain-of-function research on the coronavirus.

Northwestern Wildcats v Wisconsin Badgers

University Of Wisconsin Investigated By House Republicans Over ‘Dangerous Gain-Of-Function’ Research

University of Wisconsin

Wisconsin

A Republican senator says that federal employees are still working from home as if the coronavirus pandemic was in full swing, and is demanding an investigation into how the widespread failure to get workers back into the office is impacting taxpayers.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) calls into question government claims that remote workers can be just as productive as coming into the office, and points to various inspector general reports to prove her point. One investigation into a Department of Commerce employee found that a government worker was paid for 730 hours of work that was instead spent &#8220;playing golf, shooting pool, and going to happy hour.&#8221;
&#8220;I know what working from home actually means,” Ernst said. “It’s not fair to let the responsibilities of running an agency—and the country—fall on the shoulders of the hardworking public servants who are showing up while others are out golfing on the taxpayer’s dime.&#8221;
Ernst&#8217;s call comes more than a year after President Joe Biden pledged in his 2022 State of the Union address that &#8220;the vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.&#8221; But by that fall, only 5% of government employees swiped into the office on a typical day. This month, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/08/04/biden-end-remote-work-federal-employees#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reiterated</a> the call, telling Cabinet members that it&#8217;s a &#8220;priority&#8221; that Biden expects them &#8220;aggressively execute&#8221; on in order to get &#8220;better results for the American people.&#8221;
There are some indications that federal employees who are working remotely might not be working at all.
A review of Department of Health and Human Services remote employees found that as many as <a href="https://functionalgovernment.org/internal-hhs-report-shows-20-30-of-workforce-may-not-have-been-working/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">30% did not even log in</a> to the agency&#8217;s email or computer systems on days they were &#8220;working&#8221; from home. Those findings were from 2020, the height of the coronavirus pandemic — when Americans presumably might have needed assistance from an agency with &#8220;Health&#8221; in its name.
In the private sector, companies have made the best of remote work by saving money on office costs. But federal agencies spend $5 billion a year to lease office buildings and $2 billion on upkeep, and the Government Accountability Office found that 75% or more of office space at the headquarters of 17 agencies is not being used.
The government also pays people different rates depending on whether their office is in a high-cost-of-living area or a low one — and has failed to update that pay structure to account for remote work. The government is still paying workers based on where their office is, even if that&#8217;s not where they live. That means bureaucrats could be drawing D.C. wages and living like kings in low cost of living areas, Ernst believes.
&#8220;These pay determinations should be re-evaluated, and possibly redefined, to save taxpayers money,&#8221; Ernst wrote.
Ernst <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/department_of_state_letter.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sent a letter</a> to every agency&#8217;s Inspector General asking them to use internet IP addresses and physical badge swipe-ins to determine what regions employees actually spend most of their time in, as well as how much additional pay they receive by being paid for the cost-of-living area of the headquarters building rather than where they live. She also asked how agencies&#8217; various metrics, such as delivery of service and wait times, have corresponded to the increase in remote work.
She suggests that since employees are already moving to lower-cost-of-living places, federal agency headquarters could be there, too. Ernst introduced a bill called Strategic Withdrawal of Agencies for Meaningful Placement, or the <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-introduces-swamp-act-push-for-relocation-of-agency-headquarters-throughout-us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SWAMP Act</a>, that would locate agencies in parts of the country with expertise in their topics — for example, the Department of Agriculture would be located in a farming state like Iowa.
She also asked the agencies to determine whether various metrics, such as delivery of service and wait times, have corresponded to the increase in remote work.
In some instances, people are already pointing the finger at absent employees for government failures. At the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, which has one of the longest wait times for medical care in the nation, one manager responsible for scheduling posted a picture of himself &#8220;working&#8221; in a bubble bath. The post led to criticism from another employee, who said, &#8220;It’s almost as if this employee is making a mockery of all the veterans. I can sit here in my tub and relax, and you just have to wait.”
Ernst says one of the veterans served by the hospital felt the consequences.
&#8220;One such veteran temporarily lost his eyesight while waiting six months for an appointment with an eye doctor at the Atlanta VA,&#8221; Ernst wrote.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thousands-of-pandemic-unemployment-claims-listed-the-names-of-still-employed-government-workers-senator-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Thousands Of Pandemic Unemployment Claims Listed The Names Of Still-Employed Government Workers, Senator Says</a>

Fudge Rounds

Federal Workers Ignore Biden’s Call To Stop Working From Home — And Some Might Not Be Working At All

Office of Personnel Management

Washington

The federal government will not even attempt to recover some coronavirus-related loans that did not meet the conditions for forgiveness, in what could amount to the greenlighting of theft from an $800 billion program.
The Small Business Administration (SBA), which administered the pandemic aid <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hunter-bidens-laptop-lady-got-20k-federal-stimulus-for-female-owned-sole-proprietorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Paycheck Protection Program</a> (PPP), said it will not seek to collect on loans that should have been paid back, but were not, as long as the amount is $100,000 or less. The vast majority of the 12 million loans given out in 2020 and 2021 were under $100,000.
The agency&#8217;s inspector general, which is tasked with policing waste, fraud, and abuse, sounded the alarm at SBA&#8217;s decision, saying its logic does not add up and it should suspend the decision.
&#8220;SBA ending collections on PPP loans valued at $100,000 or less is not in compliance with applicable criteria,&#8221; the IG wrote. &#8220;SBA is potentially increasing the taxpayer burden by missing the opportunity to collect on these delinquent PPP loans,&#8221; it <a href="https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/SBA%20OIG%20Report%2022-25.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
It said that by openly allowing Americans to keep huge sums of money they are not entitled to, the federal government is encouraging future fraud against the government.
&#8220;Ending collections could set a precedence for future stimulus programs and incentivize ineligible borrowers to obtain loans valued at $100,000 or less. However, continuing to pursue collections will help ensure accountability from delinquent borrowers and promote program integrity,&#8221; it said.
Most of the loans were &#8220;forgivable,&#8221; meaning they essentially converted into a grant. But if recipients did not meet certain conditions, the money was due back. However, the agency is essentially just letting them keep it. One million borrowers with loans totaling $17 billion have not sought forgiveness for loans under $100,000.
&#8220;SBA made a decision to formally end collections on purchased PPP loans with an outstanding balance of $100,000 or less. SBA’s rationale for the decision was to provide equitable treatment between smaller sole proprietor borrowers not protected by an incorporation shield and larger incorporated borrowers,&#8221; the IG wrote in an &#8220;alert&#8221; questioning the decision. &#8220;Therefore, borrowers that have a purchased PPP loan with an outstanding balance of $100,000 or less would not be referred to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for collections or other collection measures.&#8221;
The law allows agencies to not try to collect money that is owed to them only if the cost of recovering the money would exceed the money itself. SBA claimed that was the case, but the IG said that was doubtful, and that the SBA didn&#8217;t even run the numbers.
&#8220;SBA purchased these PPP loans because the lender identified that the borrowers were 60 days or more past due on scheduled loan payments. However, SBA did not pursue collections on these loans. Instead, SBA charged off these loans and made no referral to Treasury, without conducting a sufficient cost benefit analysis to support ending collections,&#8221; it said.
Moreover, by referring the loans to the Treasury in accordance with normal procedures, the government has ways of easily recovering money at little cost, including withholding it from future tax refunds, it said. It also puts their name on a list to prevent them from taking advantage of other government programs.
And SBA did not give up on trying to claw back money that Americans weren&#8217;t entitled to because it proved fruitless. Rather, it never even tried. &#8220;We also did not find any evidence that SBA made any attempts to collect on the purchased PPP loans. At the onset of SBA purchasing the PPP loans in July 2021, it decided not to pursue debt collection for the purchased PPP loans,&#8221; the IG wrote.
PPP loans were doled out by banks, but the government was required to purchase the loans if there were any problems. Government investigations found that many financial institutions had a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/coronavirus-loan-fraud-prevention-fell-to-unvetted-firms-that-profited-hugely-while-ignoring-fraud-congress-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cavalier attitude</a> as a result, taking a hands-off approach to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/thousands-of-pandemic-unemployment-claims-listed-the-names-of-still-employed-government-workers-senator-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fraud</a> because the more loans they processed, the more money they made&#8211;and when loans were approved despite being ineligible, it was taxpayers, and not the bank, who would eat the cost.
Banks are supposed to make an initial effort at collecting money before selling the loan to the government, but SBA did not even require banks to show evidence that they made an attempt, the IG said.
The Debt Collection Improvement Act also allows agencies to suspend collections if the person has no ability to pay. However, SBA never investigated this, and some of the money may have gone to significantly well-off people.
SBA &#8220;stated in its analysis that the decision to end collections was to ensure equitable treatment between smaller sole proprietor borrowers and larger incorporated borrowers. SBA stated that if they pursued collections, the individuals associated with the generally larger incorporated borrowers would suffer nothing, whereas the individual sole proprietors, not protected by the incorporation shield, would incur collection efforts that the larger, incorporated borrowers would avoid. However, SBA’s analysis did not support equitable treatment as it did not provide any specific data on the breakdown of individual and corporate borrowers nor any quantitative assessment of effect to each type of borrower,&#8221; the IG wrote.
In a response to the IG, the SBA said it did not intend to reverse its decision, and defended itself by saying that it wasn&#8217;t worth recovering money because it has a very poor record of doing so&#8211;in one similar program, recording only 0.28% of the amount it was owed. And it asserted that Office of Management and Budget recommendations did not legally apply to it.
Earlier this month, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/agencies-congress-didnt-even-try-to-stop-fraud-in-4t-coronavirus-bailout-audit-finds" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Government Accountability Office</a> said in a searing, comprehensive report that large portions of the $4 trillion coronavirus stimulus program were marred by federal agencies&#8217; seeming indifference to fraud, including a minimum of $60 billion in fraudulent unemployment insurance claims.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nigerian-prince-alert-feds-coronavirus-loan-program-paid-1-billion-to-people-who-applied-from-other-countries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nigerian Prince Alert: Feds’ Coronavirus Loan Program Paid $1 Billion To People Who Applied From Other Countries</a>

Confirmation Hearing Held For SBA Administrator Nominee Isabella Casillas Guzman

SBA Won’t Even Try To Collect On PPP Loans That Are Supposed To Be Paid Back, Citing ‘Equity’

SBA Won't Even Try To Collect On PPP Loans That Are Supposed To Be Paid Back, Citing 'Equity'

Coronavirus Relief

Economy

Small Business Administration

The federal government still hasn&#8217;t put the Wuhan lab where COVID may have originated on its contracting blacklist, meaning taxpayer research dollars could continue to make their way there, a senator said Tuesday.
That&#8217;s despite a Senate assessment that COVID most likely <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-investigation-concludes-covid-likely-originated-from-a-chinese-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leaked</a> from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the Chinese lab&#8217;s refusal to cooperate with an NIH probe into whether a previous U.S. grant that was subcontracted to Wuhan was used for prohibited gain-of-function research.
The Department of Health and Human Services inspector general recommended that the agency look into putting WIV on its &#8220;debarment&#8221; list of prohibited contractors, and even NIH — the subsidiary agency of HHS — concurred with that recommendation.
&#8220;I also concur and urge the department to immediately and permanently debar WIV from receiving U.S. funding to ensure that not another penny from taxpayers is ever sent to China’s state-run Wuhan Institute of Virology by NIH or any other component or grantee of HHS,&#8221; Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) wrote in a letter sent to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra this week.
It would not be outside the realm of possibility for the government to steer money to Wuhan again. The previous money to Wuhan came as a subgrant of an NIH award to a group called EcoHealth Alliance.
&#8220;The NIH-sponsored collaboration with EcoHealth and WIV, &#8216;Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence,&#8217; drew understandable scrutiny following the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, China, within the vicinity of the lab where the experiments enhancing coronaviruses was occurring,&#8221; Ernst wrote.
Yet even after the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/agencies-congress-didnt-even-try-to-stop-fraud-in-4t-coronavirus-bailout-audit-finds">COVID</a> outbreak, and despite EcoHealth <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-watchdog-slams-faucis-agency-and-ecohealth-over-deal-with-wuhan-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">breaking rules</a> including failing to properly report its subcontracts and allegedly not notifying NIH of troubling test results, NIH has given EcoHealth more awards.
On Tuesday, Ernst called the situation &#8220;totally batty.&#8221;
&#8220;The total amount of American money that made its way into China’s Wuhan lab remains murky. But what we do know is that at least two U.S. agencies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), gave a total of $1.7 million,&#8221; she said in a statement.
&#8220;China’s Wuhan Institute refuses to turn over lab notes and other files related to the experiments&#8221; funded by U.S. taxpayers, she said.
&#8220;NIH continues to deny that there is any connection between the coronaviruses that were being experimented with at WIV and the virus that caused the pandemic. But if NIH does not even have this key information, how can the agency even say with any certainty what was really going on in the lab? Short answer: It can’t. Only WIV and maybe EcoHealth can and they aren’t cooperating,&#8221; she continued.
A majority of senators voted to approve an amendment offered by Ernst in May 2021 that would use the law to do what HHS has not, and block taxpayer money from going to Wuhan. But the bill that the amendment was attached to never became law. On Tuesday, Ernst introduced a standalone bill to prevent any federal agency from sending money to the Wuhan lab.
&#8220;These mad scientists should never be permitted to get their hands on bats or U.S. taxpayer dollars ever again,&#8221; she said.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hunter-biden-sought-job-for-wuhan-lab-linked-scientist-studying-herpes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hunter Biden Sought Job For Wuhan Lab-Linked Scientist Studying Herpes</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/100b-bonanza-pfizer-reports-record-sales-profits-behind-covid-vaccine-oral-treatment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$100B Bonanza: Pfizer Reports Record Sales, Profits Behind COVID Vaccine, Oral Treatment</a>

The U.S. Still Hasn’t Banned Contracting With Wuhan. Senator Says That’s ‘Batty.’

HHS Still Hasn't Banned Contracting With Wuhan. Senator Says That's 'Batty.'

Xavier Becerra

One of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/james-comer-says-hunter-biden-probe-critical-for-legislative-fix/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hunter Biden</a>’s primary liaisons to China is married to a Wuhan lab-linked scientist who Biden’s business partner thought could help their firm peddle influence, “considering how connected he is working for the Chinese CDC,” emails show.
The virologist specializes in research on sexually transmitted diseases.
Hunter Biden and his business partner Eric Schwerin made huge sums brokering international business deals, even though they often had little in the way of domain expertise. Businessmen approached the well-connected pair assuming they had deep international ties, and they would charge them for making introductions.
But when it came to China, a secret was that Schwerin often simply asked a Chinese woman he knew who had lived in Pennsylvania named Xiaoying G. Zeng, according to emails on the laptop Hunter Biden abandoned at a Delaware repair shop. Zeng sometimes was paid a cut of the money from business deals with which the firm was involved.
Zeng is married to Hongtu Liu, a scientist for China’s Center for Disease Control, according to records reviewed by The Daily Wire.
A January 2022 study on a possible way to fight the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35101046/">herpes</a> simplex virus, co-authored by Liu, listed his affiliations as including the &#8220;Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention-Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Joint Research Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases and Biosafety, Wuhan&#8221; as well as the “Center for Biosafety Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Science, Wuhan.”
A May 2022 study on the human <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35655951/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">papillomavirus</a> (HPV) was also co-authored by Liu, with the same affiliations listed.
In 2006, the couple bought a home in Pennsylvania, according to public records. Liu did research at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania. A <a href="https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S1097-2765%2810%2900074-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2010 study</a> involving RNA co-authored by Liu lists his affiliation as being with the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute, but notes that his &#8220;present address&#8221; is with China&#8217;s CDC.
The University of Pennsylvania funds the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/penn-biden-center-held-event-encouraging-closer-u-s-china-ties" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Penn Biden Center</a>, a Joe Biden-connected office and think tank, which it established in 2018. The Center has encouraged closer U.S.-China ties, and the university received tens of millions of dollars in Chinese donations shortly after the project was announced in 2017. Classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center in D.C. just before the 2022 elections.
A Senate committee concluded that the COVID virus <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-investigation-concludes-covid-likely-originated-from-a-chinese-lab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">likely leaked</a> from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
But Liu’s research on sexually transmitted diseases may have been of more interest to Hunter Biden, whose laptop revealed numerous trysts with prostitutes. In one text message on the laptop, Biden’s sister-in-law-turned-girlfriend Hallie Biden and her sister discuss sharing a prescription for Valtrex, a herpes medication.
For years, Zeng served as one of Hunter Biden&#8217;s international deal-brokering business&#8217;s major entrees to China, particularly when it came to biotech, and dined with Biden at places like Bourbon Steak.
In March 2010, Zeng set up a meeting between Schwerin and Dr. Tianyi Wang, the founder of China&#8217;s State Guest Entrepreneurs Club, which &#8220;serves as the conduit for the formation of a domestic asset fund management investment and advisory service.&#8221; Wang is also president of the China International Industry and Commerce Co.
&#8220;One thing you both have to do when you are in China is see Xiaoying,&#8221; Schwerin wrote that year to Hunter Biden and Devon Archer, another business partner who last year was sentenced to prison for fraud.
In one 2014 email, a U.S. biotech exec writes to an associate, &#8220;See if Hunter’s group can get me a meeting with the CHINESE CEO at MICROPORT during the upcoming NASS meeting in San Francisco Nov12th-14th. It has to be with the top dog.&#8221; Schwerin wrote to Hunter: &#8220;I may be able to see if Xiaoying can get to them and arrange but this is something we should charge for wouldn’t you think?&#8221;
In May 2014, Hunter and Schwerin&#8217;s firm, Rosemont Seneca, helped raise <a href="https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medical-devices/counsyl-armed-28m-begins-big-rollout-brca-and-other-predictive-genetic-tests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$28 million</a> for medical testing startup Counsyl. A month prior, as Counsyl was seeking Chinese investors without success, Schwerin floated Liu for a job at the firm.
&#8220;If Counsyl is looking for someone there they may also want to consider Xiaoying&#8217;s husband. According to Xiaoying he is starting a business that does online testing for HPV. Could be a great entree for Counsyl in China considering how connected he is working for the Chinese CDC.&#8221;
The next month, John DeLoche, another Rosemont business partner, wrote to Counsyl about their &#8220;China strategy.&#8221;
&#8220;We have deep relationships in China and could introduce you to a number of potential partners including China Investment Corporation (CIC), a $400bn sovereign wealth fund as well as several other potential investors/partners. Hunter and Devon spend a lot of time in the region and will come back to us with a full list of potential intros for your thoughts next week,&#8221; he wrote.
Schwerin forwarded the email to Hunter Biden, again pushing Liu: &#8220;Xiaoying&#8217;s husband is starting his own company with a couple of other friends from China&#8217;s CDC which would be the first company to do online disease testing in China &#8211; their initial focus would be HPV which is his area of expertise. Got to be a way to put all three parts of this together. They said this woman Shirley was heading up their China strategy but if she is coming up empty then maybe this is the perfect way to go. Should I get on the phone with Xiaoying and feel her out on the idea re CITIC?&#8221; he said, referring to a Chinese medical and investment company.
In January 2015, Schwerin sent Hunter Biden an &#8220;update&#8221; on Abbott Labs: &#8220;Supposed to get confirmation that our contract is being renewed sometime this week. Majority of it goes to Xiaoying but still would be good to have it renewed,&#8221; he said.
In June 2016, Hunter Biden wrote to one “Mr. Huang”: “It was great to meet you last week in Washington, DC. Thank you so much for the lovely gifts and please relay my thanks to your Chairman as well. I am sorry we didn&#8217;t get to spend more time together, but Eric and Xiaoying have filled me in on your plans in the U.S. and China and I look forward to being as helpful as possible.”
Zeng did not return a request for comment from The Daily Wire.

Hunter Biden Sought Job For Wuhan Lab-Linked Scientist Studying Herpes

Hunter Biden

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