Christina Salazar

But we haven't had a chance to engage directly, but your team has provided us documents, and we appreciate that.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.10 · original PDF · in context

The other day DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com I accidentally went on Twitter, and there was a debate on Twitter again over whether it was a lab leak or not, renewed debate.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.10 · original PDF · in context

And I wanted to just start -- I know this may be a loaded question, but is there anything from that testimony that you would like to, off the bat, clarify or generally -- and we may talk about that today, but I just wanted to see if there was any portions of that testimony that you wanted to clarify or provide any DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com statements on.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.11 · original PDF · in context

Did you already have a vaccine developed with them, or was it still --

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.14 · original PDF · in context

And the vaccine, the MERS vaccine, is that the CisVax [sic] vaccine that I saw in one of your grant proposals, was called CisVax?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.16 · original PDF · in context

And it sounds like, the notes that I have -- and again, if you don't recall this, just let me know -- it appears that you may have mentioned that you had some confidentiality issue with remdesivir, within Nature Communications.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.19 · original PDF · in context

So that was a topic of, and I'm sure you've read the FOIAs about you since, a topic of great discussion.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.25 · original PDF · in context

One of the calendar invites that we have says that the purpose of the discussion, for you coming in, was to discuss basic research that is gain-of-function, that will further understanding of coronaviruses and corona vaccine development, and two, to address the slowness of the U.S. government P3CO process.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.27 · original PDF · in context

But in the agenda items that we've seen from other officials, that's the agenda that was on there.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.28 · original PDF · in context

But from your House testimony it sounded like that wasn't necessarily what was discussed.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.28 · original PDF · in context

And could you tell us a little bit about, at the time, what that process was like, in terms of the P3CO process?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.30 · original PDF · in context

I mean, we see -- and again, these have been FOIA'd -- there's a spur of sending out that paper, within hours, to multiple different people.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.32 · original PDF · in context

I'm going to read you -- again, this has been FOIA'd -- he sent, in a Slack message, and I'm just going to read it out loud.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.35 · original PDF · in context

Shi be arrested, because she didn't have the paper approved by the Chinese government?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.36 · original PDF · in context

And so we have a document that shows that Peter Daszak asked for that, for Zhengli Shi to acknowledge that grant back in 2015.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.47 · original PDF · in context

I don't want to misstate it -- I mean, he said, "Does USAID fund gain-of-function research?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.49 · original PDF · in context

We have no evidence that USAID has funded gain-of-function research, and we certainly have not authorized gain-of-function research." Then Senator Paul talked about the paper, and her response was that she just said, unequivocally, that USAID has not authorized gain-of-function research.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.49 · original PDF · in context

Was it because there was a concern that it could be perceived that there was gain-of-function work occurring after the pause?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.50 · original PDF · in context

And so was it NIH's position that anything that was created prior to the pause, you could do any type of work after the pause and it wouldn't be considered gain-of-function?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.51 · original PDF · in context

We've had this conversation with -- and this isn't on you, but, you know, people like to talk about it like it's classified.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.59 · original PDF · in context

We've looked at NARA documents that are publicly available online that mention the ODNI DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com Biological Science Expert Group.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.60 · original PDF · in context

But we will be going through a classification review of that transcript, and it's not classified, so I just want to flag that.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.60 · original PDF · in context

I mean, I find it very odd that there's no record, because we have records that have been FOIA'd.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.62 · original PDF · in context

There's some that believe that you may have been a reviewer of Proximal Origins.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.75 · original PDF · in context

You were not a reviewer of Proximal Origins.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.76 · original PDF · in context

Because you were on the call, which it seems like the perception of the folks from Proximal Origins is that whoever sent that email must have heard the deliberation on that call in order to have written that email.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.77 · original PDF · in context

Would your opinion change if you knew that they WIV was conducting work on pangolin viruses around 2019, 2018?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.79 · original PDF · in context

So I've seen SADS come up a lot when people are talking about pan-corona vaccines.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.84 · original PDF · in context

And did WIV, that you know of, have that, or were they working on that?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.85 · original PDF · in context

Are you aware of any association between Fang Li and Yusen Zhou, Z-H-O-U?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.88 · original PDF · in context

The doctor that's married to Lanying Du that passed away, that was the earliest coronavirus vaccine in China from AMMS?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.88 · original PDF · in context

And so Peter Daszak was there, and we have some emails that suggest that Zhengli Shi was also in DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com the group.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.89 · original PDF · in context

Did you all discuss -- and now we'll move to DEFUSE -- did you all discuss DEFUSE while you were there?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.90 · original PDF · in context

So the DARPA DEFUSE proposal has obviously been the subject of a lot of discussion.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.90 · original PDF · in context

So I'm going to ask, when did you raise, for the first time, with the United States government officials that you were interacting with -- I mean, you interacted with Erik Stemmy on the 7th, Fauci on February 11, 2020.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.90 · original PDF · in context

But this grant, I mean, especially with all the conversations of the furin cleavage site, I mean, nothing about that grant.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.91 · original PDF · in context

-- that they specifically said "we want you to do gain-of-function research."

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.92 · original PDF · in context

And so you said that it would be -- this was gain-of-function.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.95 · original PDF · in context

This proposal -- because this is the first time I'm hearing that -- because, I mean, PREEMPT, there were grants that were funded.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.95 · original PDF · in context

But this is the first time I'm hearing that the actual call, the BAA was asking for --

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.95 · original PDF · in context

So what they would be spraying in the caves would not be the gain-of-function?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.97 · original PDF · in context

Would this have been subject to the gain-of-function pause in 2017?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.99 · original PDF · in context

So is it only gain-of-function in that scenario if you know it's --

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.102 · original PDF · in context

So are you saying that all of the other entities that were awarded grants --

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.104 · original PDF · in context

I mean, you were not awarded, but there was discussion post the denial about doing a smaller proposal, separating it out.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.104 · original PDF · in context

On the Proximal Origins call, was the furin cleavage site a topic of discussion?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.106 · original PDF · in context

I mean, I think part of the conversation, though, for a long time, was, I mean, the debate over whether it was a natural original, a lab leak, you know, accidental or not.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.108 · original PDF · in context

So you thought that the Proximal Origins argument was well articulated?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.110 · original PDF · in context

Have you ever done any gain-of-function work for DARPA?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.111 · original PDF · in context

Have you ever, you know, created a virus or provided sequences or done something under a contract DC.Scheduling@LexitasLegal.com where you were not the one that was actually conducting gain-of-function research, but the overarching experimental research was --

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.111 · original PDF · in context

The only gain-of-function that you have ever done or been involved in is the one that you received an exemption for.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.112 · original PDF · in context

The Prophecy program was exploring the evolution of viruses in the hope of predicting viral mutations and ultimately developing drugs and vaccines in advance of need.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.113 · original PDF · in context

It's from 2023, on pangolin beta coronaviruses, where it looks like you would be providing original material to Vincent Munster from RML.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.117 · original PDF · in context

Pangolin coronavirus was the original material, and the transmittal fee to reimburse the provider for preparation and distribution costs amount is zero.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.117 · original PDF · in context

I guess, is that something that's published, the pangolin beta coronavirus?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.118 · original PDF · in context

If it's not classified -- I don't want you to have a false sense of security that if we talk about that, it's not classified, it's not.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.122 · original PDF · in context

I can tell you it's definitely not classified.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.127 · original PDF · in context

For just me, I just want everyone to have on the record that the document that I am looking at is unclassified.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.128 · original PDF · in context

Early in 2020, did you ever have any concerns about the safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines that were being developed?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.128 · original PDF · in context

I understand it was partially uploaded and then it was under embargo.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.137 · original PDF · in context

So have you ever had a sequence or something under embargo that then you withdrew?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.137 · original PDF · in context

Shi and WIV had the technical capability of doing the work proposed in DEFUSE on their own?

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.138 · original PDF · in context

It is worth pointing out that the senior author on our paper - Bob Garry - has published a significant number of papers on coronaviruses, including on the SARS spike protein, and even commented on this on the virological.org website prior to the call taking place (https://virological.org/t/analysis-ofwuhan-coronavirus-deja-vu/357).

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

Importantly, our study was an evolutionary study based on genomic information, which is the only way to investigate the origins of SARS-CoV-2 - we believe all the authors on our paper have a strong demonstrated record in answering exactly those types of questions for a multitude of viruses. 3.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

We have attached our first draft of what would eventually become our paper from Feb 7, which was circulated to everyone on the call.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

The truth is that we had a range of views among us, our paper included the pangolin data that was not available at the time of the call, and we circulated drafts of our document to everyone. 7.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

At the time, there were indeed rumours - which persists to this day - that SARS-CoV-2 was an engineered virus, but these certainly did not > wrote: ta come from us.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

Indeed, the great irony is that 99.9% of the feedback we have received on our paper - including death threats - are people accusing us of dismissing the lab escape theory too quickly.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

Jon On Jul 25, 2020, at 7:22 AM, ofu8ledu8z <ofu8ledu8z@protonmail.com> wrote: EMAIL]I Hello Jon dposite Given your recent mentions of the origin of SARS-CoV-2 I thought you might be interested to hear the bizarre backstory of the paper "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2" (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-0820-9).

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

But, incredibly, Andersen et al. turned around and submitted the Proximal paper to Nature with the exact opposite claim, i.e., that the virus was NOT human engineered.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

It was then sent to Nature Medicine, where it was soon published.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context

The truth is that we had a range of views among us, our paper included the pangolin data that was not available at the time of the call, and we circulated drafts of our document to everyone.

Baric Transcribed Interview (Redacted), p.140 · original PDF · in context