THE RIGHT TO KNOW COVID’S ORIGINS — Congressional Republicans are relying on a tiny California-based nonprofit led by a disciple of consumer activist Ralph Nader to find out where Covid-19 came from, POLITICO’s Carmen Paun reports. Republicans will use evidence uncovered by Gary Ruskin, the founder of U.S. Right to Know, to inform today’s blockbuster hearing on Covid-19’s origins. They’ll question Peter Daszak, head of the nonprofit research group EcoHealth Alliance, about whether research he proposed to the Defense Department in 2018 could have been carried out — and led to Covid. Asked by POLITICO whether Ruskin’s efforts have helped his investigation, Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chair of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, said, “Absolutely.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said in March that Ruskin was “more successful than any of us in getting information from the administration.” U.S. Right to Know uncovered EcoHealth Alliance’s draft grant application in January, prompting Wenstrup’s interest, as well as that of Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), who until his resignation on April 19 chaired the House Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. It’s a story of how, in the politicization of the pandemic, unlikely alliances formed to turn public opinion on what caused millions to die of a mysterious new disease. Ruskin says he merely followed the evidence and then publicized it. And the overwhelming majority of Americans now believe what was once derided as a conspiracy theory: The coronavirus that sparked the pandemic came from a Chinese lab. The alliance between Ruskin and Paul couldn’t be stranger: Paul, the libertarian, paired with Ruskin, who followed his mentor, Nader, the arch-proponent of government regulation, into activism a generation ago to fight unhealthy food, before turning to Covid’s origins. There’s one problem with the Republican lawmakers’ hopes for this week’s hearing: The Pentagon turned down Daszak’s grant application. Daszak declined to comment for this article. But whether the hearing proves definitive or not, it’s sure to be a spectacle. U.S. Right to Know says Daszak tried to mislead the Pentagon about EcoHealth Alliance’s intention to conduct the research at the Chinese lab at the center of the lab leak theory, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where biosafety practices were laxer than in the U.S., to save money, meaning the work could have gone ahead anyway. MORE ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE WOES — Meanwhile, House Democrats are raising concerns about the environmental nonprofit’s compliance with federal funding rules, Carmen reports. While Democrats on the select subcommittee don’t believe EcoHealth Alliance caused the pandemic, they question whether the group should continue receiving public grants in the future. “[EcoHealth Alliance] potentially misled the federal government on multiple occasions in both their transparency obligations and reporting requirements as recipients of federal grant funding — raising serious questions about their overall commitment to the responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz of California, the top Democrat in the subcommittee. Democrats on the subcommittee plan to release a report this morning that cites a two-year delay in the research group’s submitting a required report to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the potential misrepresentation of whether the coronavirus research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology could be classified as potentially risky. Daszak said his group has “worked assiduously” since 2020 to respond to all additional oversight requirements and shared a 2023 NIH audit letter which states that EcoHealth Alliance resolved concerns about its compliance with grant rules. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. We’ve made it to May, but the temperatures in Washington feel more like July or August. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.
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