Over time, it's become clear as the information has come out that what was used in engineering viruses, coronaviruses at Wuhan Institute of Virology was a technology that had been transferred apparently through Ralph Baric and EcoHealth Alliance into Wuhan Institute of Virology.

That this tech transfer had allowed the engineering of novel sequences or manipulation of a viral backbone sequence without creating the hallmarks of classic recombinant DNA. Okay, so suddenly Michael's statement, if you unpack it, with that in mind, then “my people”, is a euphemism. He would also use terms like “the Secret Handshake Club” to relate to his network of colleagues and contacts.