Newly Released Documents Reveal FBI Intervened to Block Questioning of COVID Researcher Peter Daszak
Key Insights
Senator Rand Paul released documents showing U.S. Customs and Border Protection designated EcoHealth Alliance (search)'s Peter Daszak as "an extremely high person of interest" for planned questioning at JFK Airport in February 2021.
An FBI New York email sent the day before Daszak's return requested that CBP "do not stop" the researcher, fueling allegations of a lab leak "cover-up."
Daszak, who received hundreds of millions in federal funding for gain-of-function research in Wuhan, was later debarred by the Department of Health and Human Services (search).
Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, has released a new batch of documents revealing that the FBI intervened in February 2021 to prevent U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials from questioning Dr. Peter Daszak, the former head of the non-profit EcoHealth Alliance (search), upon his return to the United States from China.
The documents, disclosed during a May 13 hearing, show that CBP had designated Daszak as "an extremely high person of interest" and planned to question him at JFK Airport about his research activities in Wuhan, China. However, the day before his scheduled return, CBP officials received an email stating: "Please be advised the FBI New York requested we do not stop the subject below," accompanied by Daszak's name and photograph.
Daszak's Role in Wuhan Research
EcoHealth Alliance (search) received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to research emerging disease threats, including gain-of-function experiments conducted in collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (search). During his 2024 testimony before a House Committee, Daszak maintained that neither he nor his fellow researchers engaged in any wrongdoing during their work in Wuhan. He continued to support the theory that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through natural zoonotic origins, directly contradicting the "lab leak theory."
"There is incredibly substantial evidence that this virus emerged through so-called natural zoonotic origins," Daszak stated during his testimony. "The public nature of our work and our long-standing collaboration with Chinese scientists have made us a target for misinformation about the origins of COVID."
Daszak was subsequently debarred by the Department of Health and Human Services (search). Senator Paul noted during the hearing that Daszak "was even sent to China with the WHO to investigate the origins of COVID."
Allegations of a Cover-Up
The newly released documents have intensified claims of a coordinated effort to suppress scrutiny of the lab leak hypothesis. In an interview with Fox News, Representative Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) stated: "They rolled in with an agenda and wanted to protect that narrative and used whatever means necessary, no surprise they used law enforcement enterprise to achieve that."
Representative Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) also weighed in, praising Senator Paul's persistence: "Rand Paul has been like a bulldog on a bone and he should be. Everybody else passed it off and it shut the world down and we allow today to happen and the Biden administration was asleep at the switch."
Upcoming Testimony from Dr. Anthony Fauci
The controversy is expected to resurface when Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, testifies on Capitol Hill. Dr. Fauci has been subpoenaed by Senator Paul to answer questions regarding gain-of-function research and the origins of COVID-19 (search). Senator Paul has consistently targeted both Daszak and Fauci in his investigation into the pandemic's origins and the federal funding of research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (search).