[weezel]

So, what did he know and when did he know it?

[Grandpa Drudge]

You asked "So, what did he know and when did he know it?" That is documented in:

SARS-like WIV1-CoV poised for human emergence

Published in PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Strates of America) March 14, 2016

https://www.pnas.org/content/113/11/3048

Using the SARS-CoV infectious clone as a template (7), we designed and synthesized a full-length infectious clone of WIV1-CoV consisting of six plasmids that could be enzymatically cut, ligated together, and electroporated into cells to rescue replication competent progeny virions (Fig. S1A). In addition to the full-length clone, we also produced WIV1-CoV chimeric virus that replaced the SARS spike with the WIV1 spike within the mouse-adapted backbone (WIV1-MA15, Fig. S1B). WIV1-MA15 incorporates the original binding and entry capabilities of WIV1-CoV, but maintains the backbone changes to mouse-adapted SARS-CoV. Importantly, WIV1-MA15 does not incorporate the Y436H mutation in spike that is required for SARS-MA15 pathogenesis (8). Following electroporation into Vero cells, robust stock titers were recovered from both chimeric WIV1-MA15 and WIV1-CoV.

And the connection to Wuhan Labs in China is highlighted in the Acknowledgments:

We thank Dr. Zhengli-Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology for access to bat CoV sequences and plasmid of WIV1-CoV spike protein. Research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the National Institute of Aging of the NIH under Awards U19AI109761 and U19AI107810 (to R.S.B.), AI1085524 (to W.A.M.), and F32AI102561 and K99AG049092 (to V.D.M.). Human airway epithelial cell cultures were supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease under Award NIH DK065988 (to S.H.R.). Support for the generation of the mice expressing human ACE2 was provided by NIH Grants AI076159 and AI079521 (to A.C.S.).

[Grandpa Drudge]

Actually, weezel, That's the question of the day. "So, what did he know and when did he know it?",

This was the warning

SARS-like WIV1-CoV poised for human emergence

https://www.pnas.org/content/113/11/3048

PNAS March 15, 2016 113 (11) 3048-3053; first published March 14, 2016 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1517719113

Edited by Peter Palese, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, and approved January 6, 2016 (received for review September 4, 2015)

The joint authors of this warning were representatives of the following

a Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599;
b Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599;
c Division of Microbiology, National Center for Toxicological Research, Food and Drug Administration, Jefferson, AR 72079;
d Department of Cell Biology and Physiology and Marsico Lung Institute/Cystic Fibrosis Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599;
e Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona, Switzerland;
f Institute of Microbiology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland;
g Humabs BioMed SA, Bellinzona, Switzerland;
h Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute–Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA 02215

Significance

The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV highlights the continued risk of cross-species transmission leading to epidemic disease. This manuscript describes efforts to extend surveillance beyond sequence analysis, constructing chimeric and full-length zoonotic coronaviruses to evaluate emergence potential. Focusing on SARS-like virus sequences isolated from Chinese horseshoe bats, the results indicate a significant threat posed by WIV1-CoV. Both full-length and chimeric WIV1-CoV readily replicated efficiently in human airway cultures and in vivo, suggesting capability of direct transmission to humans. In addition, while monoclonal antibody treatments prove effective, the SARS-based vaccine approach failed to confer protection. Together, the study indicates an ongoing threat posed by WIV1-related viruses and the need for continued study and surveillance.

And from the results summary in this article:

Using the SARS-CoV infectious clone as a template (7), we designed and synthesized a full-length infectious clone of WIV1-CoV consisting of six plasmids that could be enzymatically cut, ligated together, and electroporated into cells to rescue replication competent progeny virions (Fig. S1A). In addition to the full-length clone, we also produced WIV1-CoV chimeric virus that replaced the SARS spike with the WIV1 spike within the mouse-adapted backbone (WIV1-MA15, Fig. S1B). WIV1-MA15 incorporates the original binding and entry capabilities of WIV1-CoV, but maintains the backbone changes to mouse-adapted SARS-CoV. Importantly, WIV1-MA15 does not incorporate the Y436H mutation in spike that is required for SARS-MA15 pathogenesis (8). Following electroporation into Vero cells, robust stock titers were recovered from both chimeric WIV1-MA15 and WIV1-CoV.

And the connection to Wuhan Labs in China is highlighted in the Acknowledgments:

We thank Dr. Zhengli-Li Shi of the Wuhan Institute of Virology for access to bat CoV sequences and plasmid of WIV1-CoV spike protein. Research was supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and the National Institute of Aging of the NIH under Awards U19AI109761 and U19AI107810 (to R.S.B.), AI1085524 (to W.A.M.), and F32AI102561 and K99AG049092 (to V.D.M.). Human airway epithelial cell cultures were supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease under Award NIH DK065988 (to S.H.R.). Support for the generation of the mice expressing human ACE2 was provided by NIH Grants AI076159 and AI079521 (to A.C.S.).

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), who supported this research, is managed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, so it is certain he knew about it in detail before September 4, 2015, when this paper was submitted for review.