Paul says has 'smoking gun' tying fed agencies, Fauci to research plan to create COVID-type virus

GOP Sen. Rand Paul says whistleblower information ties the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases to a 2018 grant proposal that sought to experiment in China with a COVID-19-type microbe.

The Kentucky lawmaker and doctor of ophthalmology made his case Tuesday to Fox News in an op-ed and on television.

"We found out about this first from a brave Marine who reported that this research – was a grant proposal back in 2018 – would have allowed Wuhan Institute to create a virus very similar to what COVID-19 turned out to be," Paul said.

 He also said the development is the "smoking gun" critics had long sought, according to FoxNews.com.

COVID was purportedly first detected in the late fall of 2019 at an exotic food market, in the same China city as the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

"Nobody else in government ever informed us," Paul said about the grant, singling out former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Paul also said he sent letters to 15 federal agencies requesting information about the proposal, but suggested he has yet to receive a response.

Paul has long sparred with Fauci, who appointed by President Ronald Reagan to lead the NIAID and who retired in December 2022, Fox also reports. 

In the op-ed, Paul wrote that he requested information from the federal agencies about the grant proposal led by EcoHealth Alliance and called the "DEFUSE Project."