Rand Paul Releases Emails on Fauci’s Role Advising Intelligence Agencies on COVID-19 Origins

Sen. Rand Paul released nearly 90 pages of emails and other documents on Thursday showing how Dr. Anthony Fauci steered the National Security Council and other intelligence agencies to downplay the lab-origin theory of COVID-19.

Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said the records demonstrate Fauci’s influence over assessments of the virus’s origins. More than 1 million Americans died during the pandemic after SARS-CoV-2 spread from Wuhan, China, in late 2019.

Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022 and advised the National Intelligence Council, the CIA, and other agencies on SARS viruses and pathogens that could be genetically manipulated.

James Erdman, a career CIA operations officer, testified before the committee on May 13 that Fauci used his position to steer the intelligence community’s report toward a natural-origin conclusion rather than a lab origin at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Emails show Fauci guided NIH-funded virologists and epidemiologists to supply information to intelligence officials during the 90-day review of COVID-19 origins that then-President Joe Biden commissioned in May 2021. The National Security Council held a classified briefing for Fauci on June 4, 2021, at which he advised intelligence personnel on experts to contact.

Fauci recommended Kristian Andersen, lead author of a 2020 Lancet paper that downplayed a lab-leak possibility. Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins helped draft the paper, and Fauci forwarded it to National Security Council officials on July 8, 2021.

In that email, Fauci described the authors as “highly qualified virologists” and said the paper “summarizes what I said yesterday” during the classified meeting.