Daily Caller
EXCLUSIVE: Rand Paul, Senate Republicans Demand CIA Explain Whistleblower’s COVID-19 Allegations In Follow-Up
By Henry Rodgers
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and a group of Senate Republicans sent a follow-up letter Thursday to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) regarding whistleblower allegations that the CIA offered to pay off analysts to change their positions on the COVID-19 lab leak theory.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter, which refers to a senior CIA officer’s testimony to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). Eighteen Republican senators joined Paul in sending the follow-up letter.
“These allegations raise serious questions about the Agency’s investigation of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in light of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence June 2023 unclassified report stating that CIA remained ‘unable to determine the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic,'” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “The Agency’s refusal to cooperate with requests for information by members of the Senate regarding whistleblower allegations is unacceptable. The CIA has an obligation to be responsive to congressional oversight requests by all members of the Senate regardless of what committees they are assigned to.”
The follow-up letter comes after Paul and GOP senators demanded in September that CIA Director William J. Burns provide additional documents and information related to the agency’s investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to help in evaluating the whistleblower’s allegations.
HERE IS WHAT THE LAWMAKERS CALL FOR IN THE LETTER:
• All documents and communications regarding the establishment of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s).
• All documents and communications between or among the members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s) regarding the origins of COVID-19.
• All documents and communications between or among members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s) and other employees or contractors of the Agency regarding the origins of COVID-19.
• All documents and communications between or among members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s) and employees or contractors of other federal government agencies, including but not limited to the U.S. Department of State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (to include the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), and the U.S. Department of Energy regarding the origins of COVID-19.
• All documents and communications relating to any conclusions of the COVID Discovery Team(s) and subsequent revision of such conclusions.
READ THE LETTER HERE: Download this PDF
The other lawmakers who signed the letter were Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Ted Budd of North Carolina, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Mike Braun of Indiana, Ted Cruz of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Susan Collins of Maine.(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Rand Paul, Senate Republicans Demand CIA Explain Whistleblower’s COVID-19 Investigation Allegations)
The lawmakers called for answers to their questions no later than Feb. 8 2024.