Emails reveal EcoHealth Alliance had over 700 unsequenced coronavirus in Wuhan lab

Newly released emails between Dr. Anthony Fauci's top adviser, Dr. David Morens, and EcoHealth Alliance President Dr. Peter Daszak reveal that the non-governmental organization had over 700 identified but unsequenced coronaviruses in its Wuhan lab when Trump first withdrew their funding in 2020. Although that decision was later reversed, the agency continues to receive government funding to this day.

Fox News reports that Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., highlighted the newly released email exchanges on Tuesday, which showed Daszak's fears of permanently losing government funding. In an April 2020 email, Morens alleged that Fauci was "fully aware" and "involved in some sort of damage control," possibly to help EcoHealth maintain its federal grant.

Paul told Fox News Digital that the emails suggest Fauci and Daszak were concerned about the implications of their funding relationship and how the potential link to the pandemic would look. The email from Daszak also claimed that EcoHealth had more than 15,000 samples at the Wuhan lab.

Despite these private concerns and gain-of-function research being conducted, Fauci continued to publicly discredit theories of a potential lab leak as the origin of COVID-19. Paul emphasized the importance of the email revelations, as they provide context to the discrepancies between Fauci and EcoHealth's public messaging and the public figures' private worries.

The senator noted that the existence of hundreds of unknown viruses in the Wuhan lab raises the possibility that COVID-19, or a similar virus, could have been manipulated in the Wuhan lab, calling the string of emails an attempted "cover-up."

In response to reports on the emails, EcoHealth issued a press release on April 12 denying any allegations of inappropriate communication or involvement in a cover-up. The organization claimed the emails showed their efforts to reinstate a grant that had been "unexpectedly and arbitrarily" terminated.

On April 16, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, subpoenaed Morens for additional correspondence from his personal Gmail account, alleging he used the private account to evade FOIA laws. Wenstrup described Morens' actions as "highly concerning" and "likely illegal," stating that the subpoena would help uncover the truth about the alleged federal records violation.