"The proposal, named Project Defuse, was rejected by DARPA over safety concerns and the notion that it violated the gain of function research moratorium. However, according to the documents, NIAID, under the direction of Dr. Fauci, went ahead with the research in Wuhan, China and at several sites across the U.S."
https://republicans-oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2...
Even DARPA had to tell him 'no' because it was illegal (in 2018).