Fact check: Obama administration did
not send $3.7 million to Wuhan lab
USA Today,
by
Matthew Brown
&
Kim Hjelmgaard
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
5/4/2020 9:08:09 AM
The claim: The Obama administration gave $3.7 million to a research institute in Wuhan, China
The origins of the coronavirus have become an increasingly hot-button issue, allowing conspiracy theories to gain traction online and among high-profile officials.
Claims that the U.S. government helped fund research into coronaviruses began to spread after the Daily Mail reported it obtained documents, which “show the Wuhan Institute of Virology undertook coronavirus experiments on mammals captured more than 1,000 miles away in Yunnan – funded by a $3.7 million grant from the US government.”
The report gained traction on social media, while the claim was repeated by high-profile political figures.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
philsner 5/4/2020 9:18:37 AM (No. 400225)
Liberal howling is a function of how close you are to the truth.
32 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
LeeBertie 5/4/2020 9:20:28 AM (No. 400230)
Hmmm
The Yahoos said "In 2014, the NIH approved a grant to EcoHealth Alliance designated for research into “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” The project involved collaborating with researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study coronaviruses in bats and the risk of potential transfer to humans."
So, who do I believe, USAToday or the quoted Yahoo "conspiracy theorists" and the DailyMail "conspiracy theorists"?
Just one man's opinion, but I have learned that anyone the MSM, including USAToday, refers to as "conspiracy theorists" probably has the true story.
37 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
MrDeplorable 5/4/2020 9:29:33 AM (No. 400244)
Now let’s fact-check USA Today’s fact-checking record on Christine Blowsy Ford and Tara Reade, shall we?
41 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
bpl40 5/4/2020 9:31:04 AM (No. 400248)
They protest too loudly. These items don't appear without a cause. The real question is what are they hiding for the Kenyan?
32 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
JayD 5/4/2020 9:38:48 AM (No. 400262)
Perhaps the entire $3.7 million was not specifically for the Wuhan lab, but a sizable part of it was. However, the headline is intended to mislead by implying no money was sent by the Obama administration to the Wuhan lab. The fact is that a moratorium on gain-of-function (GOF) of pathogens research in the US was put in place in October 2014, which is the reason NIAID (headed by Dr. Fauci) funded the research overseas. The moratorium in the US was lifted in December 2017. The question is if the danger was considered such a high risk that a moratorium was needed in the US, why was it considered an acceptable risk in other countries that arguably do not have the safety capabilities of the US? References: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4271556/ and https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/nih-lifts-funding-pause-gain-function-research.
21 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
MickTurn 5/4/2020 9:50:14 AM (No. 400278)
Right...Obummer sent the money to a proxy who then laundered the money several times and like the IRAN CASH on Pallets, the $3.7M just magically showed up in Wuhan Lab...Yep, We got it...
It's what Communists DO, they always hide what they do then lie about it or get their Sycophants in the MSM to LIE for them!
22 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
lakerman1 5/4/2020 9:55:46 AM (No. 400285)
some people don't read an article, but trust the headline.
this is an implicitly dishonest article, but par for the course for USA Today.
26 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
MattMusson 5/4/2020 10:00:53 AM (No. 400295)
In other news - Pinocchio was fact checked on the story he told Mr. Wolf about losing all his gold coins.
Since he was clearing lying - he received 4 USA TODAY's.
7 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
stablemoney 5/4/2020 10:02:33 AM (No. 400299)
Obama sent more than $3.7 million, our mistake. Also, $2B plus to Iran.
16 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Kate318 5/4/2020 10:11:04 AM (No. 400311)
Headline is misleading, to say the least. The article twists itself into a pretzel to conclude that there is no direct evidence that Obama directly wrote a check to the Wuhan Lab. But, it flat out states that money was given, and it was given during his administration. They also throw in the, “...but, but, but Trump...” justification, for good measure. Article was written for the lapdogs of the left, who will go no further than the headline.
13 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 5/4/2020 10:24:38 AM (No. 400333)
So USA Yesterday is saying Obama didn't send that exact figure but probably sent more. What's a few million among friends?
10 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Miceal 5/4/2020 10:25:26 AM (No. 400335)
No, it was more like 7.4 million....
7 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 5/4/2020 10:26:45 AM (No. 400336)
OP's comment cracked me up. Thanks for confirmation that I'm not crazy yet.
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 5/4/2020 10:26:55 AM (No. 400338)
Yes, the title is misleading. Read the entire article and authors clearly trying to persuade the reader that Obama did not send money. He did. Our country is suffering because of his "share the wealth" policies and he seems to have no problem sending 3.7 million for research. I guess "share the wealth" meant for himself and his crony countries.
8 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
bighambone 5/4/2020 10:31:20 AM (No. 400347)
Bottom line, indirect US Government funding the Wuhan laboratory was a holdover program from the Obama Administration era. Clearly that program was not created by the Trump Administration that when they found out about it stopped it.
4 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 5/4/2020 10:35:43 AM (No. 400352)
Must've struck a nerve with that story.
Clearly the deep state rag, "USA Toady." is afraid of this becoming a debate quip of President Trump against Joke Biden Demonrats will get one of their Socialist Party Organs to discredit something, followed by other Organs quoting the first, and eventually they repeat ensemble, "This is something that has been discredited by numerous independent news outlets." Well of course! They all take their cues from their DNC Fax machine!
7 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 5/4/2020 10:37:55 AM (No. 400357)
Oh, and by the way, NIH also GAVE them the bat virus to study!
NIH also reported on numerous occasions that the lab precautions in Wuhan were sub-standard, at best.
Nothing to see here... move along now...
6 people like this.
Don't, don't believe anything the USA Today "rag" prints.
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Highvoltage 5/4/2020 10:38:17 AM (No. 400359)
Wonder if the hand of Communist China might be in this article.
6 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
earlybird 5/4/2020 10:49:32 AM (No. 400370)
Called “getting out ahead of the story”, I posted at least one article on Fauci’s sending this money for this purpose. Media cleverly did not mention Obama, but the average bear - certainly any Deplorable, most of whom excelled at math and who are avid scholars of at least recent history - saw the date and knew it was on Obama’s watch. “Obama’s watch” meaning a period of time, not what he did. Except for people like Flynn and Trump, and he had “his people” to do that. But I digress. You can bet your sweet bippy that the Dems know that this has been stored in President Trump’s memory bank, ready to come out at some future time. Thus, with “Facebook’s” grant money, they run like crazy to debunk a story that I didn’t see written. If you untangle the sources, I’d say that what happened did happen and Obama had to have approved it. Thought it a swell idea. And then put his pen away and went back to throwing his peanut shells on the carpet… To call him lackadaisical would be to overstate his energy.
11 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
GoodDeal 5/4/2020 10:57:33 AM (No. 400383)
Ohhhh... I see... Obuzzbait did not personally send the check. Got it.
6 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Strike3 5/4/2020 11:17:24 AM (No. 400397)
Why not? He sent millions of dollars to everyone else in the world.
2 people like this.
I'm really confused? Is it we didn't but we did or is it we did but we didn't.
4 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
beancounter 5/4/2020 11:48:46 AM (No. 400426)
Oh, it was only $600K, That makes me feel so much better... NOT.
2 people like this.
Reply 25 - Posted by:
heartsurgeon 5/4/2020 12:49:42 PM (No. 400489)
"Partly false" = Mostly True!
1 person likes this.
Reply 26 - Posted by:
DVC 5/4/2020 1:02:59 PM (No. 400515)
LOL! I'd call that a distinction without a difference.
USA Today's "fact checker" is totally full of .....beans, this is how the government usually does business.
I planned, coordinated and then managed somewhat similar research projects, on different topics, and with different goals, in the former Soviet states for a decade.
Yes, the government had a contract with the company I worked for, and then I made contracts with these soviet institutes....but that doesn't mean the government didn't fund those institutes. Just a paperwork exercise, I had the expertise to set up and manage those projects, and the government departments who wanted it done did not.
1 person likes this.
Reply 27 - Posted by:
john56 5/4/2020 1:11:30 PM (No. 400528)
Well, if you're looking for a $3.7 billion check from the US Treasury signed by "Barack H. Obama," you're probably right.
But if you're looking at it laundered through a maze of NGO and UN grifters, each taking a cut along the way, you probably will find it.
2 people like this.
Reply 28 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 5/4/2020 1:32:49 PM (No. 400565)
It has become quite obvious that these days, any person or group who calls themselves "Fact Checkers" are not interested in presenting the truth, but are "checking" the facts:
as in the second definition of verb (used with object):
2: to restrain; hold in restraint or control.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/in--check?r=75&src=ref&ch=dic
3 people like this.
Reply 29 - Posted by:
hershey 5/4/2020 1:38:23 PM (No. 400576)
The Daily Mail seems to be of the same ilk as The National Enquirer and all the other tabloids at the end of the supermarket checkout lines...but then you know what they say in the Men In Black movies....
2 people like this.
Reply 30 - Posted by:
Chuzzles 5/4/2020 3:11:48 PM (No. 400667)
Nobody said it was the Obama administration. However it is fact that Fauci's lab sent that money to Wuhan China.
3 people like this.
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USA Today as fact checker? List of their sources at end of article, along with note that their fact checking is supported in part by a grant from Facebook (aka Zuckerberg). Putting on my cynical face.