Fauci offered a defense of EcoHealth’s collaboration with the Wuhan lab, saying, “The framework under which we have guidance about the conduct of research that we fund, the funding at the Wuhan Institute was to be able to determine what is out there in the environment, in bat viruses in China. And the research was very strictly under what we call a framework of oversight of the type of research. And under those conditions which we have explained very, very clearly, does not constitute research of gain of function of concern.”

Back in May, Fauci testified that it would have been “almost a dereliction of our duty” if the NIH had not worked with China to study coronaviruses as he defended NIH money going to fund “collaboration” with “very respectable Chinese scientists.”

Stephanopoulos asked if the NIH letter showed that the U.S. had been funding coronavirus research that was riskier than previously known, and Fauci denied that.

“No, it isn’t. We knew what the risk was, and what the oversight is. Certainly, they should have put their progress report in in a timely manner. No denial of that, and there will be administrative consequences of that,” Fauci said.