Written by Hudson Crozier

Tuesday: House Republicans questioned two virologists about a scientific paper the National Institutes of Health (NIH) used to discredit the likely theory that COVID-19 came from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.

The story: The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic revealed emails and messages from the scientists suggesting that they were “prompted” by Anthony Fauci and Francis Collins of the NIH to write a paper discrediting the lab leak theory in February 2020. They even sent a draft of the paper to Fauci and Collins for editing and approval. The officials had already been informed that the theory might be true but still suppressed it, with Fauci citing the paper publicly to argue that the virus appeared to be of natural origin.

Denial: Two of the four authors of the paper told the subcommittee that there was no improper influence in their work, but lawmakers are skeptical. The messages even showed that one of them wanted to avoid “the sh** show that would happen if anyone…accused the Chinese of” leaking the virus.

There’s a lot to cover up: Fauci oversaw the funding of risky, previously banned gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Intelligence has confirmed that researchers at the institute got sick under Fauci’s loosened safety restrictions, and State Department agents say it was from COVID. Fauci later lied under oath to Congress about it by saying the funding never happened, and he still maintains that “the data…seem to weigh toward [COVID] being natural.” China has been even more stubborn in its rejection of the lab leak theory and any investigations into the institute.