>> Over the weekend, we learned new revelations regarding the Trump administration and its
ridiculous decision to cut critical funding toward coronavirus research. Now, unfortunately,
the decision was prompted by conspiracy theories on Fox News. And we'll get to that in just
a second. But we've learned more information through a 60 Minutes interview with Peter
Daszak.
Now, Peter Daszak is an American scientist. And he's studying coronavirus in collaboration
with the Wuhan laboratory that has been, of course, criticized for withholding numbers
initially regarding the outbreak. But it's still important to research alongside these
scientists in China in order to get a firm grasp of where the coronavirus specifically
came from, how it's spreading, and what we can do to effectively mitigate the impact.
So Peter Daszak, that's the scientist, is actually a very credible individual. He was
quoted as saying, what worries me the most is we are going to miss the next emerging
disease. That we're suddenly going to find a SARS virus that moves from one part of the
planet to another, wiping out people as it moves along.
Now CBS News reports that Daszak's funding from the NIH, the US National Institutes of
Heath was killed two weeks ago by a political disinformation campaign targeting China's
Wuhan Institute. He was quoted as saying, our strategy is to go to the wildlife source,
find out where the viruses are, and try to shift behaviors like hunting and killing wildlife
that could lead to the next outbreak.
We also get the information into vaccine and drug developers so they can design better
drugs. So again, his research is incredibly important and I should also note, he is not
with the NIH. He is a scientist who founded an organization known as EcoHealth. The NIH
was given a grant, he was given a grant in order to work alongside these researchers
and scientists in Wuhan in order to, again, get the information that we desperately need
in order to mitigate the spread of this virus.
Now, when it comes to the disinformation campaign that he's talking about, he's specifically
referring to the types of comments that Republican law makers like Representative Gaetz made
when they went of Fox News. We have a snippet of that, this was from April 14th on Tucker
Carlson's show. Take a look.
>> Something remarkable and upsetting, the work in that lab, including its research into
disease carrying bats was funded, in part, by you, by US taxpayers through the National
Institutes of Health. Hard to believe that's true, but it is. Congressman, that's one of
those stories that if you had said that out loud a week ago, I think even I might have
dismissed you as insane, but it's true.
How did this happen? >> Yeah, I'm against funding Chinese research
in our country, but I'm sure against funding it in china. The NIH gives these $3.7 million
grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They then advertise that they need coronavirus
researchers. Following that, coronavirus erupts in Wuhan. And then what's really troubling
to me is that either conspicuously or miraculously the Wuhan Institute of Virology is able to
sequence the virus on January 2nd.
But China doesn't admit to the virus existing to January 9th. And then the Wuhan Institute
of Virology doesn't release this important scientific information to the world until
January 12th. So at best Americans are funding people who are lying to us. And at worst,
we're funding people who we knew had problems handling pathogens, who then birthed a monster
virus onto the world.
>> By the way- >> So there you have it. There was more of
what Gaetz had to say. But Cenk, I mean, jump in here, because some might argue, well, the
Chinese government, these scientists in China weren't being as forthcoming as they could
have been in the beginning.
Does it really make sense to do research with them into this virus? I mean, I disagree with
that statement, but I wanted to get your thoughts. >> Okay, there's definitely a couple layers
here. First of all, Matt Gaetz says and then miraculously, they're the first ones to sequence
it.
That's not at all miraculous because they were the ones studying different kinds of
coronaviruses. And they're the ones along with the scientist that is from America, the
one that got the funding cut off in the quote that Anna read you a little while ago. Said
back in 2003,17 years ago, there will be a worldwide pandemic, it will jump from place
to place.
And we're trying to study it. So our answer isn't holy cow. These guys were on top of
it. They've been studying this for decades. And when I say these guys, I mean the scientists.
So the American scientists have volunteered, NIH for doing the grant. And the Chinese scientists
in the lab in Wuhan as well.
Instead of saying, my god, they've been studying this for decades. That was so appreciative
of them. And here, unfortunately, something happened exactly as they warned us about.
Maybe we should fund them more because they apparently know what they're doing. We go
in the opposite direction. How did they know?
What were they doing? They were doing science. And if you think well, Cenk, wait a minute
that is a bit of a coincidence. It comes from Wuhan, and there's a lab in Wuhan that studies
this stuff. Okay, I hear you. If that was part of a plot, why didn't they do it 17 years
ago?
So they've been studying this for all of this time, because they know that it jumps from
wild animals in their rural areas, both there and in other places where people hunt. And
then they wind up getting a disease from an animal that you wouldn't necessarily normally
eat. Bats is the number one thing that this American scientist was studying, it looks
like it jumped from bats.
By the way, it's not an accident or a coincidence that he's studying bats, because a lot of
the coronaviruses jump from bats. They already know that, why? Because they're scientists.
They're not idiot pundits like Tucker Carlson and idiot conspiracy theorists like Matt Gaetz
who wind up becoming a United States Congressman.
>> Right, exactly. And I also think it's important to understand the mindset of the executive
branch as they were deciding to fund this research. And how dramatically their perspective
changed just based on the conspiracy theories that you hear on these dishonest outlets like
Fox News. As CBS news clearly states, the grant was to Peter Daszak's US-based EcoHealth
Alliance for disease prevention, it does throughout the world.
His work was considered so important that last year the grant was reauthorized and increased
by the Trump administration. So clearly, the Trump administration had a great deal of trust
in Peter Daszak's research and work. And then all of a sudden, after you hear these ridiculous
conspiracy theories by conservatives on Fox News, they take that grant money away.
And Daszak was quoted as saying, I can't just show up to China and say, hi, I wanna work
on your viruses. I have to do this through the correct channels. So what we do is, we
talk to NIH, and they approve the people we can work with in China.
And that happened and our collaboration with Wuhan was pre approved by NIH. And so what
did the Trump administration say when it came to revoking that incredibly important funding?
Daszak says, they said it was cancelled for convenience and it doesn't fit within the
scope of NIH's priorities right now.
How is this not a priority right now? And then he said, I mean, this grant received
an incredibly high priority score. It was in the top 3% of grants they reviewed, and
that's unusual. >> Yeah.
>> So all it takes is a misinformation campaign on Fox. And that's it.
Trump's stupid administration and I say stupid because their actions here are stupid. Decide
to take the resources away from this, again, important research.
>> The other way they could have handled this is man, the NIH nailed it, they put this in
the top 3% priorities before it broke out.
And it turns out they were so right in prioritizing it that way. And lucky us, we've already spent
a good deal of money studying this virus, which makes it easier to track. And that's
why it was tracked fairly quickly. Now, unfortunately, that hasn't helped yet in coming up a vaccine,
etc.
But it always helps scientists working on those things, and so great job by the NIH
is actually a real story. And the one that could have been told if the misfunding wasn't
pulled because of a conspiracy theory. We could have actually given the Trump administration
some credit for that.
But instead, as usual, they punch themselves in the face and go, that scientist that we
hired that did an amazing job, yeah, we'll fire him. And we'll blame him for working
with the Chinese. And then make up a ridiculous excuse like working on coronavirus research
now is not a high priority.
No, but guys, even if you're MAGA, you don't believe that. No one could possibly believe
that. I mean it's the most, if I try to come out with an outlandish lie, I couldn't top
working on coronavirus research is not a high priority right now.
>> Luckily, you're right, Cenk.
There are still adults in the room. We still do have some experts within our federal government
who are just smart enough to do the right thing in getting answers. But what I've noticed
is over and over again, you have their work either being hindered or being thrown out
the window all together.
Because of these bad faith, dishonest actors like Matt Gaetz, like Tucker Carlson. And
it just doesn't make any sense, especially if the only thing you care about is reopening
the country. How are you going to do that if we don't have the tools necessary to do
it responsibly?
>> Trump's a well known conspiracy theorist himself. He went on Alex Jone's shows, said
it was a terrific show. He was the one who pushed the birther conspiracy in the first
place. It's not at all surprising that he immediately believes an outlandish theory
like this. Mike Pompeo has talked about how this might have come out of a Wuhan lab.
So we have the top echelons of the United States government pushing a wild conspiracy
theory. And one that isn't just a curiosity, but that is directly relevant to the biggest
health crisis of our lifetimes. And instead of applauding and encouraging the scientists
working on research to help address it, they're taking away their funding and pushing Alex
Jones-like conspiracy theories instead.
There's a thousand reasons why Donald Trump should be remove from office immediately.
And this is certainly among them. We cannot normalize how absurd, ridiculous, unintelligent,
and conspiratorial these people are. And they lead
the country.