by WorldTribune Staff, July 21, 2026 Non-AI Real World News
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was instructed by the FBI not to search or interview EcoHealth Alliance chief Peter Daszak upon his return from Wuhan, China during the early stages of the Covid pandemic in February 2021, according to emails released on Monday by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul.
CBP was reportedly expected to ask Daszak about his contacts at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where the virus is believed to have originated.
Peter Daszak / Video Image
CBP was also expected to ask Daszak whether he collected or transported biological samples, and what happened during his trip to China.
On internal CBP document released by Paul stated: “DASZAK was asked publicly by NIH to retrieve the original type-specimen used by WIV for genetic analysis, and return it to the United States.”
The document continued: “He was also asked to explain several aspects of their collaboration, including related to cell phone data. DASZAK called the requirements ‘outrageous’ and does not appear to intend to comply with them.”
Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said that CBP was prepared to stop Daszak when he landed in New York in February 2021, but was told by the FBI days before Daszak landed not to question him and the inspection never took place.
Daszak was scheduled to arrive at JFK Airport from Doha, Qatar on Feb. 5, and CBP planned to sit him down for questions about his time in China, where he took part in the World Health Organization’s investigation into the origins of Covid.
But a CBP Joint Terrorism Task Force Liaison noted in a Feb. 2 email: “Please be advised FBI New York requested we do not stop the subject.”
Daszak, who would later be accused of creating the “blueprint” for Covid, was seen by CBP at the time of his arrival from Wuhan as “an extremely high person of interest” due to his 15 years of collaborative research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A Jan. 11, 2021 email from an unidentified CBP agricultural specialist, noted: “Daszak was responsible for funding WIV with NIH [National Institutes of Health] grant money for research.”
The email also noted that Daszak’s involvement as part of an investigative team examining the pandemic’s origins raised a potential “conflict of interest.”
A Feb. 2, 2021 email from a CBP National Targeting Security Specialist stated: “Much of the funding DASZAK receives is put towards gain of function research.”
The CBP emails also showed that Daszak had already visited Wuhan twice in January 2021, and CBP employees listed one of those trips as something worth asking about.
Daszak took millions of taxpayer dollars in federal grants for global infectious disease research meant to prevent pandemics — including more than $4 million for a NIH project titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.”
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) banned Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance from receiving U.S. funding for five years starting in January 2025 after failing to fully disclose research results.
HHS also barred the Wuhan Institute of Virology from receiving U.S. funding until 2033.
“For years, Americans were told a lab origin wasn’t just unlikely — it was dismissed outright by the very people funding and reviewing this research,” Paul said.
Paul said the documents can be found on a new database his team has put together called the “Reading Room,” which is now accessible to the public so they can review the documents themselves. The database will be updated as the investigation continues.
