Newly released federal documents show the FBI told border agents to stand down just three days before a scientist tied to the Wuhan lab landed on U.S. soil.
Quick Take
- Senator Rand Paul released internal documents showing the FBI’s New York office told Customs and Border Protection not to stop Dr. Peter Daszak in February 2021.
- Border agents had already flagged Daszak as a “person of high interest” over his 15-year partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
- No public record explains why the FBI blocked the stop, leaving the reason a mystery months later.
- Daszak later gave testimony to Congress that investigators say did not match the evidence.
Documents Show a Direct Order to Stand Down
Senator Rand Paul posted internal federal records on his “Reading Room” database this week. One document quotes the FBI’s New York Field Office asking border officers not to “intercept” Daszak. The note came three days before Daszak’s flight landed, giving agents plenty of time to change their plans.
🚨BREAKING: FBI Protected EcoHealth's Peter Daszak in 2021
In February 2021, officials at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Targeting Center prepared to question and search Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance upon arrival at JFK airport from China after… pic.twitter.com/vppnBDHPFS
— Jefferey Jaxen (@JeffereyJaxen) July 21, 2026
Customs and Border Protection agents at New York’s Kennedy Airport were ready to pull Daszak aside for questioning. Paul says that inspection “never took place” because the FBI intervened first. Daszak was returning from a World Health Organization trip investigating COVID-19’s origins in China.
Border officers had not picked Daszak at random. The Customs and Border Protection National Targeting Center had marked him as a “person of high interest” back on February 5, 2021. The reason: his more than 15-year working relationship with the Wuhan Institute of Virology and its chief researcher, Shi Zhengli.
Why Agents Wanted to Talk to Daszak
Internal notes cited concerns about Daszak’s role in gain-of-function research, the kind of work that makes viruses more dangerous or more able to infect people. Officials also flagged possible conflicts of interest tied to the federal grant money flowing through his group, EcoHealth Alliance, to the Wuhan lab.
Those concerns did not fade with time. Health officials later suspended EcoHealth’s federal funding, and a House Oversight Committee letter pressed Daszak directly about his group’s ties to the Chinese lab and the money behind the research. The financial links raised questions about whether outside interests shaped how agencies handled the case.
Congress got its own chance to question Daszak in November 2023. The House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee said afterward that Daszak “was unable to reconcile major discrepancies” between what he told them privately and what the evidence actually showed about a research proposal called DEFUSE. That gap raises the stakes of a missed 2021 airport interview.
Key Questions the FBI Has Not Answered
No public document lays out why the FBI stepped in. It could reflect a legitimate reason, like protecting an ongoing investigation or handling a sensitive diplomatic situation involving a World Health Organization representative. But without that explanation on record, the silence itself has become part of the story.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have not released any memo explaining the legal basis for the order. Congress has not obtained sworn testimony from the New York agents who issued the instruction or the border officers who received it. That leaves the full chain of command unverified, even as the paper trail Paul released appears authentic.
This episode fits a wider pattern that has frustrated Americans across the political spectrum: government agencies making major decisions behind closed doors, then staying silent when asked to explain themselves. Whether the FBI’s call was justified or not, the public still does not know who made it, or why.
REVEALED: Biden's FBI Prevented Custom's and Border Patrol From Searching and Questioning Dr. Peter Daszak on Return Trip from China – The Man Who Funded COVID Research in China https://t.co/gqjlNiHVB4 #gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit The Customs and Border Patrol was ready to…
— pat (@patgill69033215) July 21, 2026
Paul’s investigation continues, and he has signaled more document releases are coming. Until the FBI or the Department of Justice explains its February 2021 decision, the gap between what border agents wanted and what actually happened will keep fueling distrust in how federal agencies handled the pandemic’s earliest, most consequential questions.
Sources:
youtube.com, justthenews.com, 163.com, usrtk.org