As the newly appointed chairman of the Senate's Homeland Security committee, Paul has issued subpoenas to 14 agencies from the outgoing Biden administration. This move is aimed at expanding upon previous congressional investigations into the COVID-19 virus and the potentially hazardous, taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research.
According to Fox News, it remains uncertain who exactly from each agency will be called upon for deposition, but a deposition from Fauci is a distinct possibility. "In the wake of Anthony Fauci’s preemptive pardon, there are still questions to be answered," Paul declared after announcing the issuance of his subpoenas. "Subpoenas were sent from the Committee to NIH [National Institutes of Health] and 13 other agencies regarding their involvement in risky gain-of-function research. The goal of the investigation will be to critique the process that allowed this dangerous research, that may have led to the pandemic, to occur in a foreign country under unsafe protocols and to ensure that there is sufficient oversight and review going forward, making sure a mistake of this magnitude never happens again."
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Former President Joe Biden's preemptive pardon of Fauci, designed to shield him from political retaliation under the new Trump administration, has sparked legal debates. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Baily suggested that since Biden's own Justice Department indicated he lacked the mental faculties to be held criminally liable for improper handling of classified documents, it could be argued he also lacked the mens rea to issue pardons to individuals like Fauci. Furthermore, Fauci's pardon only covers his actions from January 2014 to the date of his pardon, implying that non-compliance with a congressional subpoena could potentially lead to criminal charges.
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Paul's investigation will build upon a previous bipartisan probe initiated by the Senate's Homeland Security committee last year, which examined the national security threats posed by "high-risk biological research and technology in the U.S. and abroad." A parallel investigation led by Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin and the chairman of the Permanent Select Subcommittee on Investigations, will scrutinize concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic in the new Congress, including a review of Fauci's email communications.
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Since the onset of the pandemic, Paul has made numerous requests for information related to the origins of the COVID-19 virus and gain-of-function research. His efforts last year unveiled documents suggesting that government officials from at least 15 federal agencies were aware in 2018 that China's Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was working on creating a coronavirus similar to COVID-19.
The WIV has been a focal point in the debate over the origins of COVID-19, as it was later discovered that American scientist Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance was using taxpayer dollars to conduct risky research on the novel bat virus at the WIV prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services barred Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance from receiving federal funding for five years.
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In contrast, Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), assured Congress in May 2021 that the NIH "has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
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The Trump administration is reportedly drafting an executive order to halt all U.S. funding going towards gain-of-function research. Federal officials remain divided on the origins of the COVID-19 virus. Three agencies — the Department of Energy, the FBI, and the CIA — have determined that the lab leak theory is the most likely origin narrative. However, others in the intelligence community and throughout the federal government either cannot conclude that a lab leak was the most likely scenario, or they believe that a natural origin scenario is most likely. A declassified intelligence report from 2021, published by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, suggested that if a lab leak did turn out to be the catalyst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was likely the result of an accident.
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Representatives for Paul declined to comment for this report, while Fauci did not respond to a request for comment. This lack of response leaves the public with lingering questions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential risks associated with gain-of-function research.
