The FBI directed U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) not to stop Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, upon his return to the United States from China in February 2021, according to emails released Monday. The nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance was later accused of creating the "blueprint" for COVID-19.
CBP had identified Daszak as "an extremely high person of interest" due to his 15 years of collaborative research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, according to the messages published by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
"Daszak was responsible for funding WIV with NIH [National Institutes of Health] grant money for research," stated one email from a CBP agricultural specialist on January 11, 2021. Another email from a CBP National Targeting Security Specialist on February 2, 2021, added, "Much of the funding DASZAK receives is put towards gain of function research."
Daszak was scheduled to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport from Doha, Qatar, on February 5. CBP planned to question him about his trip to China, where he participated in the World Health Organization's investigation into the pandemic's origins. However, a CBP Joint Terrorism Task Force Liaison noted in a February 2 email, "Please be advised FBI New York requested we do not stop the subject."