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Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) were preparing to question a British zoologist and disease ecology expert upon his return to the United States from the World Health Organization’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19, before the FBI intervened and asked agents to stand down, according to files released Monday by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
“They told the public a COVID lab leak ‘wasn’t plausible,'” Rand wrote on X. “Their own private messages say otherwise. Today I’m launching The Reading Room where the public can review records related to my ongoing investigation – not just conclusions but the actual documents.”
The documents show CBP’s National Targeting Center flagged Peter Daszak as “a high person of interest” ahead of his Feb. 5, 2021, arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Daszak, the former president of EcoHealth Alliance, was flagged because of more than 15 years of collaboration with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and his longstanding relationship with its lead researcher, Zhengli Shi, as well as his role as principal investigator on National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants funding bat coronavirus research in China.
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Much of the funding Daszak received was put toward gain-of-function research, the documents state.
The documents highlight that the NIH had asked Daszak to retrieve the original type-specimen used by WIV for genetic analysis and return it to the U.S., as well as to explain several aspects of his collaboration with the lab, including providing related cell phone data.
CBP officials planned to question Daszak on his activities in China, his contacts at the WIV, and whether he illegally collected or carried biological samples.
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Internal communications highlighted concerns regarding Daszak’s involvement in gain-of-function research and potential conflicts of interest involving federal grants.
However, three days before his arrival in New York, CBP received a request from the FBI’s New York Field Office to halt the stop, and the inspection never happened.
“FBI New York requested we do not stop the subject below,” the request states, according to the documents.
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The records include detailed flight itineraries, proposed interrogation questions, and internal emails documenting the interagency disagreement over the search.
“This isn’t the whole story. It’s the start of one,” Paul wrote in a lengthy thread on X. “The Reading Room will be updated on a rolling basis as the investigation continues.”
At the time of the planned interception, Daszak headed the now-defunct EcoHealth Alliance, an American-based nonprofit that conducted research and outreach on the causes of emerging pandemic diseases, such as those originating in bats.
He was a member of the 10-person WHO team that traveled to China to investigate the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
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Daszak had received public criticism regarding a potential conflict of interest for being included on the WHO investigative team despite his financial and professional ties to WIV.
Daszak now heads Nature Health Global, a non-profit scientific organization focused on ecological research, public health, and pandemic prevention.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI and Nature Health Global.
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