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Internal records released by Sen. Rand Paul indicate that the FBI instructed U.S. Customs and Border Protection not to stop, search or question Peter Daszak when he returned from China in 2021.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Internal federal documents released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., show that the FBI intervened before EcoHealth Alliance President Peter Daszak returned from China in 2021 and instructed U.S. Customs and Border Protection not to conduct a planned inspection or interview.
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Customs officers had prepared to stop Daszak upon his arrival in the United States, question him about his travel and examine his belongings, according to the records. Three days before Daszak was scheduled to return, however, the FBI’s New York Field Office directed border officials not to stop him.
The planned inspection was subsequently canceled and never took place.
Daszak led EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that directed federal research funding to projects involving the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. The organization’s work and its relationship with the laboratory have drawn congressional scrutiny as investigators continue examining the origins of COVID-19 and the nature of coronavirus research conducted in Wuhan.
Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin reported the details in an X post outlining the newly released documents.
The documents indicate that Customs and Border Protection had identified Daszak for additional screening before his return. Border officials were prepared to interview him and conduct a search, but the FBI notification halted those preparations.
The reason for the FBI’s intervention was not detailed in the information released by Paul. The documents also did not establish whether the bureau was protecting an investigation, acting on national security concerns or responding to another federal agency’s request.
The episode occurred as questions were intensifying about EcoHealth Alliance’s federal funding, its research partnerships in China and its role in supporting coronavirus-related work at the Wuhan laboratory.
EcoHealth Alliance provided funding for research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, including studies involving bat coronaviruses. Critics have characterized portions of that work as gain-of-function research, while the terminology, scope and regulatory status of the projects have remained subjects of dispute.
The newly disclosed records raise questions about why federal border officials were prevented from questioning Daszak after a trip to China and what information the FBI possessed when it issued the directive.
In 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services suspended federal funding to EcoHealth Alliance and began proceedings that could bar the organization from receiving future government awards.
That action followed years of scrutiny involving EcoHealth Alliance’s oversight of research conducted with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the organization’s compliance with federal reporting requirements.
The Wuhan laboratory has remained a central focus of investigations into whether COVID-19 emerged through natural transmission or resulted from a laboratory-associated incident. No information in the newly released border documents independently resolves that debate.
Former EcoHealth Alliance executive Dr. Andrew Huff, who reported to Daszak, told The Gateway Pundit in October 2022 that he had provided Congress with evidence supporting his allegation that the virus responsible for COVID-19 was created in a Wuhan laboratory.
Huff’s claim has been disputed and was not independently substantiated by the documents released by Paul.
Daszak also discussed coronavirus experimentation during a 2016 presentation in which he described methods scientists could use to manipulate viruses in laboratories and evaluate their potential to infect humans.
Those remarks later received renewed attention after the pandemic began because of EcoHealth Alliance’s work with researchers in Wuhan.
Reports have additionally alleged that Daszak had a relationship with the CIA. The information provided did not include documentary evidence establishing the nature of any such relationship or whether it was connected to the FBI’s 2021 instruction to border authorities.
The documents released by Paul establish that Customs and Border Protection intended to stop Daszak and that the FBI’s New York Field Office told the agency not to do so shortly before his arrival.
They do not explain who authorized the FBI directive, why the bureau intervened or whether Daszak was later interviewed by federal investigators.
The disclosure adds another unresolved episode to congressional inquiries surrounding EcoHealth Alliance, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the federal government’s handling of information connected to the origins of the pandemic.
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