Rand Paul Releases Slack Messages Showing 30% Lab-Leak Odds in Key COVID-19 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

30% and 20% lab-origin estimates from Kristian Andersen and Eddie Holmes appeared in internal Slack messages released by Sen. Rand Paul, undercutting the certainty of the 2020 Nature Medicine paper they co-authored.
June 2020 exchanges showed Andersen saying the team had no hard evidence either way and could not rule out someone having "put it in there," despite the paper's stronger public dismissal of a lab origin.
The documents also highlighted debate over the virus's furin cleavage site and showed the authors coordinating with NIH leaders and U.S. intelligence officials while publicly defending their conclusions.
Separate records released a day earlier showed the FBI told Customs and Border Protection to stand down from questioning EcoHealth-linked researcher Peter Daszak after a WHO origins trip.
Paul used both disclosures to intensify his Senate origins probe ahead of Anthony Fauci's scheduled testimony later this month.