COVID-19 Origins — what the congressional record says

Rand Paul alleges CIA scientists voted 6-1 that COVID came from a lab but were overruled by superiors, suggesting institutional suppression of findings.

“CIA scientists, seven of them, voted six to one to say it came from the lab, and then they were reversed by superiors.”

Rand Paul raises the possibility that Fauci influenced CIA leadership or vice versa regarding COVID origins conclusions, alleging a coordinated cover-up.

“So, there really was an orchestrated cover-up on this.”

Rand Paul claims weekly CIA meetings on dangerous dual-use research and gain-of-function have been withheld from Congress for over three years despite requests.

“not one item of any of those meetings has been released to us, despite us asking for it for over three years.”

CIA staff directed NSC to route any congressional questions about CIA-Fauci engagement through official channels, potentially limiting transparency.

“if questions in the hearing come up about CIA, then they need to be passed to CIA through official channels (ie OCA).”

Both Fauci and Collins denied providing edits, which contradicts evidence of their active involvement in the drafting process.

“Both Dr. Fauci and Dr. Collins testified they did not provide edits to Proximal Origin”

Dr. Andersen's testimony contradicts Nature's stated reason for rejection; he attributes rejection to conclusions being too weak, while Nature's editor cited concerns about feeding conspiracy theories.

“I think the reviewers felt that probably -- I mean, reviewer two was pretty critical about our conclusions of the paper and felt that they should have been stronger”

Dr. Tabak explicitly confirms the EcoHealth experiment fits the broad definition of gain-of-function research, contradicting NIH's public position.

“The generic, broad description of what gain-of-function is, yes.”

Dr. Daszak attempts to justify not submitting the Year 5 Report on time by claiming its information was included in the Year 6 renewal, which the Select Subcommittee directly contradicts.

“the information from the year 5 report was in the resubmitted -- the renewal submission, in the first part of that renewal submission.”

NIH's forensic audit could not verify Daszak's claim of being locked out of the eRA Commons system, directly contradicting his testimony.

“our office did an electronic forensic investigation of EcoHealth's encounters with our grant system”

Dr. Daszak repeatedly testified NIH took 11 days to unlock the submission system, but NIH's Dr. Tabak directly contradicted this under oath, stating NIH has no evidence of that.

“We have no evidence of that.”

NIH explicitly contradicts Dr. Daszak's sworn testimony that he was not required to produce lab notebooks, creating a direct contradiction between witnesses.

“Dr. Daszak testified 2 weeks ago that he was not required to produce the lab notebooks. Would NIH disagree with that testimony? A. Yes, we disagree with that testimony.”

Daszak's own consultant acknowledged NIH had the right to review original lab notebooks, contradicting Daszak's public position that he was not required to provide them.

“NIH has the right to review original lab notebooks and data, and that EHA would in the normal course of events be able to obtain these data from the WIV.”

The excerpt reveals a contradiction between NIAID's stated justification for reinstating EcoHealth's grant and reality — EcoHealth was actually relying on the debarred WIV to provide the samples.

“EcoHealth was relying on the WIV, an institute debarred for failing to produce laboratory notebooks, to provide them with the virus samples”

Daszak contradicts his earlier claim that the WIV was not participating in the grant by acknowledging ongoing communication and data sharing with the debarred institute.

“Well, they do talk to us. I can talk to them. It's not illegal to talk to them.”

The witness contradicts the premise of debarment by confirming WIV is still functionally collaborating and providing data at no cost, undermining the punitive intent of the debarment.

“And they are, functionally, doing it for free? We may have some prior claim on it because the initial sampling was done with our money.”

Daszak claimed DARPA rejected DEFUSE solely due to insufficient funds, directly contradicting DARPA program manager Gimlett's testimony that biosecurity concerns were one of three key reasons for denial.

“Absolutely not true. We had an interview with DARPA specifically so they could inform us why it was rejected. I have got the contemporaneous notes right here, never once did biosafety come up.”

Dr. Gimlett directly contradicted Dr. Daszak's prior testimony by confirming that the lack of a gain-of-function or DURC plan was part of the rationale to reject the DEFUSE proposal.

“Did the lack of a gain-of-function or DURC plan affect the decision to reject the proposal? A. Yes, it did.”

Fauci's deposition testimony contradicts the plain impression left by his Senate testimony, as he now concedes his denials were not addressing the layman's definition of gain-of-function that Senator Paul and the public understood.

“when I said we do not fund gain-of-function -- gain-of-function according to the strict definition, which I refer to as the operative definition”

The questioner highlights a potential contradiction between the witness's Senate testimony denying NIH funded gain-of-function research and the broader definition that was live on NIH's website at the time the research was conducted.

“NIH does not now and has not ever funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan was that you meant to say or you intended ePPP research”

Cuomo denies recalling any GNYHA phone call or request related to nursing home discharges, yet contradictorily admits his discussions with GNYHA were 'always' about hospital capacity — the exact subject of the directive.

“The discussion with the Greater New York Hospital Association was always about the hospital capacity and they were tracking the capacity”

Schwartz's testimony directly contradicts Lacewell's admission, as he claims no recollection of any conversations with her related to the March 25 Directive.

“he did not recall having any conversations, privileged or otherwise, with Ms. Lacewell related to the March 25 Directive.”

Cuomo claims the March 25 Directive was written from CMS and CDC guidance, a claim contradicted by federal health officials including Dr. Birx.

“It was written from CMS and CDC.”

Dr. Zucker claimed the March 25 Directive followed CDC and CMS guidance, but no witnesses confirmed anyone in the Cuomo Administration actually consulted those agencies beforehand, undermining his defense.

“None of the witnesses interviewed by the Select Subcommittee consulted—nor knew of anyone within the Cuomo Administration that consulted—CMS or CDC prior to the issuance of the March 25 Directive.”

Lacewell contradicts the premise that the report originated with DOH and was changed by the Executive Chamber, asserting instead that it was not a DOH report that was altered.

“It was not a DOH report that landed in the executive chamber and was then changed.”

Andrew Cuomo denied any involvement in drafting the July 6 Report, which is directly contradicted by documents and other witness testimony.

“Q. Were you involved in the drafting of this report in any capacity? A. No.”

Cuomo denied Dr. Malatras's testimony that he reviewed a draft of the report, but hedged with 'Maybe it was in the inbox,' partially undermining his own denial.

“I did not. Maybe it was in the inbox, but I did not.”

Cuomo denied involvement in peer review of the July 6 Report, which directly contradicts documentary and testimonial evidence showing he directed the process.

“Q. Did you have any discussions regarding the report being peer reviewed? A. No.”

Cuomo denied knowing whether outside individuals were involved in drafting the July 6 Report, contradicting testimony and documents proving he directed outside reviewers.

“Q. Do you know if people outside of DOH were involved with drafting or editing this report? A. No.”

Senior Executive Chamber officials contradicted Dr. Malatras by claiming no knowledge of Cuomo's involvement in the July 6 Report, creating a direct contradiction in testimony.

“Ms. DeRosa, Ms. Lacewell, and Ms. Garvey, testified that they had no knowledge or recollection of Mr. Cuomo being involved in the July 6 Report.”

Dr. Woodcock initially denied recalling whether vaccine mandates came up at the July 19 meeting, but later admitted Dr. Marks brought up mandates 'a couple of times,' contradicting her earlier evasion.

“Not by me. Q. But do you recall that someone else may have brought them up? A. I do not recall.”

Dr. Woodcock's claim that the ADD was private contradicts her acknowledgment that it 'often would appear in the papers,' suggesting the information was not kept private.

“Well, it often would appear in the papers. But that might have been from the companies, because we tell the company”

HHS Counsel attempts to distance the authorization memo from internal personnel proceedings against Dr. Morens, contradicting the implied coercive context described by the questioner.

“this memorandum is separate and apart from any internal personnel process that might be happening.”

Dr. Morens treated HHS instructions as binding and refused to answer questions accordingly, despite HHS claiming the instructions were non-compulsory.

“Dr. Morens interpreted these instructions as binding and informed the Select Subcommittee he would not answer questions if instructed.”

Dr. Morens falsely denied having any email accounts other than his government and Gmail accounts during a transcribed interview, which contradicts evidence of an additional encrypted account.

“The only e-mail I had was my government e-mail and my Gmail.”

Dr. Morens denied attempting to circumvent FOIA using personal email, which contradicts documentary evidence of deliberate deletion of federal records.

“Did you attempt to circumvent FOIA by using a personal e-mail account for official work discussions? A. No.”

Dr. Morens contradicted his earlier sworn denial by admitting at a public hearing that he deleted 'a lot of emails' daily, undermining his prior 'No' answer.

“I deleted a lot of emails. I do it every day. But in my mind, they are trivial things not related to government business.”

Documentary evidence contradicts Dr. Morens' sworn testimony that he never deleted official records, showing he wrote that he deleted emails from EHA people from his NIH Outlook.

“Twice in the past, including a month or so ago, I deleted everything with EHA people from my entire Outlook”

A second written statement by Dr. Morens further contradicts his sworn denial of deleting official records, indicating deliberate destruction of federal records.

“Hopefully no problems with the emails that came to me at my NIH address. I deleted them quickly”

Dr. Morens denied using personal email to circumvent FOIA, which the Select Subcommittee says documents prove to be a false statement, potentially constituting a federal crime.

“Did you ever circumvent FOIA by using a personal E-Mail account for official work discussions? A. No.”

Dr. Morens denied ever deleting emails from his official account, which the Select Subcommittee says documents establish to be a false statement.

“Did you ever delete anything from your official account or anything from”