The authors of the ‘proximal origin of SARS-COV-2’

Now, the released communications mainly centre around four of the five Proximal Origin authors, who are key actors in this particular discussion whose feature needs to be highlighted: the aforementioned Dr. Rambaut of the University of Edinburgh, Tulane’s Dr. Garry, Scripps Research Professor Dr. Kristian Andersen, and University of Sydney Virologist Edward “Eddie” Holmes. There are also email communications with the fifth author, Columbia’s Dr. Ian Lipkin, who also figures in the story.
 
These Proximal Origin authors who initially discussed lab escape in such a casual manner appeared to have a change of heart after a February 3rd conference call that included the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci, then-NIH Head Francis Collins, and Dr. Jeremy Farrar of the Wellcome Trust (and now the WHO). Though he was CDC chief at the time, Redfield was excluded. From that point forward, references by scientists to “lab escape” became less frequent, with some of the Proximal Origin authors claiming to be impressed by various developments, including data sets about mutations in pangolins.
However, scientists were clearly more moved by internal politics in correspondence with figures like Farrar, who complained questions about pandemic origin had “gathered considerable momentum not in social media, but increasingly among some scientists, in mainstream media, and among politicians.”
Seemingly anxious to please, Holmes at one point went as far as to say about a draft of the paper (and I quote directly), “Jeremy Farrar and Francis Collins are very happy. Works for me.” Now, this is significant among other things because Andersen testified saying “These statements are false”, when Republicans claimed the Proximal Origins authors “sent a draft to Drs. Fauci and Collins” and that “prior to final publication… the paper was sent to Dr. Fauci for editing and approval. Furthermore, Andersen supported the idea of writing the final Proximal Origin of SARS CoV-2 draft for the Nature Magazine that published it, because he did not want to leave any room for speculation about lab origin.
He further conceded at another point that their main work has been focused on trying to disprove any type of lab theory. And then in a February 12th letter to Nature virology editor Clare Thomas, he went so far as to describe their proposed paper as having been “prompted by Jeremy Farrar, Fauci, and Francis Collins.