Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 21

Rand Paul Releases Slack Messages Showing 20%-30% Lab-Leak Doubts Behind 2020 COVID Paper

Updated

Updated · Fox News · Jul 21

Rand Paul Releases Slack Messages Showing 20%-30% Lab-Leak Doubts Behind 2020 COVID Paper

Q: Why did the FBI intervene to stop officials from questioning a key researcher linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology?

The released records do not say why the FBI stepped in. What they show is that, three days before Peter Daszak arrived at JFK in February 2021, the FBI’s New York Field Office asked Customs and Border Protection not to stop him, and CBP then canceled a planned inspection and interview. CBP had identified Daszak as an “extremely high person of interest” because of his long collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, his role at EcoHealth Alliance, NIH-funded bat coronavirus work that sent money to Wuhan, and questions about whether he had data, samples, or devices relevant to the COVID origins inquiry. Agents had prepared to ask about his activities in China, his contacts at the Wuhan lab, possible biological materials, and NIH requests for original research materials. But the motive for the FBI intervention remains undisclosed in the documents made public. There is no released evidence showing whether the bureau was protecting an active investigation, handling Daszak through another channel, shielding intelligence equities, or acting for some other operational reason. So the factual answer is narrow: the FBI did intervene and the questioning did not happen, but the reason for that intervention has not been publicly explained in the records released so far.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 21

Internal Slack messages released Tuesday show authors of the influential 2020 “Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2” paper privately assigned a 20%-30% chance to a lab origin despite publicly arguing against manipulation.
Kristian Andersen wrote in June 2020 that the team had no hard evidence either way and “can’t rule out” someone putting the virus in, while also citing “smoking(ish) guns” tied to the furin cleavage site.
Rand Paul said the messages expose dishonesty by researchers whose paper was widely used by public health officials and media to dismiss a lab-leak theory; the documents also show coordination with NIH leadership and U.S. intelligence.
The release follows Paul’s disclosure a day earlier that the FBI told Customs and Border Protection to stand down from questioning EcoHealth-linked Peter Daszak after a WHO origins trip, widening Republican scrutiny before Anthony Fauci’s scheduled Senate testimony.