Rand Paul says he will investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci’s ‘secret trips’ to CIA before COVID-19: Top Republicans to prove ‘off the books’ visit to spy agency that questioned Wuhan lab leak theory
Late. Rand Paul told DailyMail.com that he will continue his investigation into the origins of COVID-19 by examining Dr. Anthony Fauci’s secret ‘off the books’ trips to the CIA.
The Kentucky Republican — who is also a doctor — has spent years investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Paul revealed that Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was friendly with the CIA – which notably is one of the few federal agencies that still has not clearly that. established COVID-19 origin.
“The CIA still officially says (COVID-19 is) probably from animals,” Paul said. “We also have stories, rumors and innuendo that Fauci was a frequent off-the-books visitor to the CIA.”
He pointed to how the CIA disagrees with findings from the Department of Energy and the FBI, which have said the pandemic likely originated from a leak at a Wuhan, China, laboratory.
And although an initial CIA assessment found the lab leak theory plausible, senior agency officials dismissed its findings.
Late. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced that his investigation into the origins of COVID-19 has revealed that at least 15 government agencies were aware of the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s efforts to create a new strain of the coronavirus
Former NIAID director Anthony Fauci likely knew about Wuhan Institute of Virology’s desire to create a coronavirus as early as 2018, Paul claims
Paul sent a letter to the 15 agencies, including the CDC, requesting additional information about the DEFUSE project – which was an attempt by the Wuhan laboratory to create a new coronavirus
“We have another whistleblower from the CIA who says that the scientific committee tasked with investigating the origin of the virus actually voted six to one that it came from the lab and that they were overruled by superiors in the CIA ,” the senator. told DailyMail.com.
The agency’s reversal and its secretive meetings with Fauci are suspicious, Paul said.
Yet the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is that the origin of the earth-stopping COVID-19 pandemic probably came from bats.
“We do not know the exact source of the current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but we do know that it originally came from an animal, probably a bat,” the CDC website states.
But Paul calls that answer ‘batty’, revealing on Tuesday that the CDC and 14 other agencies had known of a proposal from the Wuhan laboratory aimed at creating a new coronavirus in 2018 – similar to the COVID-19 virus that has killed just under 1.2 million Americans and millions more globally.
The DEFUSE project — a joint venture between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the US-based pandemic prevention non-profit EcoHealth Alliance — drove the creation of a new coronavirus during a 2018 meeting with representatives from at least 15 federal agencies.
The proposal sent to the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) outlined how the Wuhan lab and EcoHealth intended to ‘engineer known viruses with spike proteins of new viral strains’, according to Paul.
Their proposal went to DARPA’s PREventing Emerging Pathogenic Threats (PREEMPT) program.
The NIAID Rocky Laboratory was also listed as a partner in the DEFUSE proposal along with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth.
This means, according to Paul, that Fauci almost certainly knew about the Chinese laboratories’ desire to create a new coronavirus, since NIAID was a partner in the proposal.
NIAID did not return a request for comment.
“So in January and February of 2020, instead of Anthony Fauci coming up and saying, ‘Oh, wow, they briefed us on this. It looks like they ended up doing what they briefed us on,’ instead of saying that, he ordered people to say the opposite,’ Paul told DailyMail.com.
‘It makes me think there really is something they’re hiding.’
Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology as members of the World Health Organization team investigate the origins of COVID-19
Francis Collins (left), head of the National Institutes of Health, and Anthony Fauci (right), head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, could have known about the Wuhan laboratory’s proposal to create a new coronavirus, according to Paul
Later, on January 30, 2018, DARPA hosted ‘PREEMPT Proposers Day’, with the 15 federal agencies in attendance.
Paul claims that officials from these agencies had to be aware that the Wuhan laboratory, in collaboration with NIAID and EcoHealth, was considering the creation of a coronavirus designed to infect humans.
“The fact that 15 agencies knew about this when the virus structure came out in January 2020 should have (said) ‘I can’t believe the virus looks exactly like what they proposed to do in research in 2018,'” Paul said.
“Anyone who was associated with any funding that went to Wuhan is concerned that they will basically be blamed for the pandemic.”
‘And so they try to obscure any connection they had with this.’
Paul also mentioned how the NIAID budget for ‘biomedical weapons research’ was drastically increased under Fauci’s leadership, which is something he will continue to look into as well.
‘I think there is still something to be found here. I think there is something worth hiding.’
He described how federal agencies under Biden have not been helpful in his investigation.
But, he said, there is still hope.
Scientists wear protective gear while working in a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology
“I’m drooling a little at the thought that we might have a friendly administration that would have a friendly Secretary of Health and Human Services overseeing the NIH,” Paul said, hinting that a Trump presidency would do him better access to sealed documents.
Still, despite November being a long way off, he will continue to work ‘to try to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’