Rand Paul says he will investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci's 'secret trips' to the CIA before COVID-19: Top Republican to prove 'off the books' visits to spy agency that questioned the Wuhan lab leak theory

Sen. Rand Paul told DailyMail.com he will continue his probe into the origins of COVID-19 by investigating Dr. Anthony Fauci's secret 'off the books' trips to the CIA.

The Republican from Kentucky - who is also a doctor - has been investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic for years.

In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Paul disclosed that Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was friendly with the CIA - which is notably one of the few federal agencies that still has not clearly established COVID-19 origins.

'The CIA officially still says [COVID-19 is] probably from animals,' Paul said. 'We also have stories, rumors and innuendo that Fauci was a frequent visitor off the books to the CIA.'

He pointed to how the CIA disagrees with findings from the Department of Energy and FBI that have said the the pandemic likely originated from a leak at a Wuhan, China, lab.

And that though an initial CIA assessment found the lab leak theory was likely, senior officials in the agency overruled their findings. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced his investigation into the origins of COVID-19 has uncovered that at least 15 government agencies were aware of the Wuhan Institute of Virology's effort to create a novel strain of coronavirus

Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci likely knew about the Wuhan Institute of Virology's desire to create a coronavirus as early as 2018, Paul claims

Paul sent a letter to the 15 agencies, including the CDC, requesting further information about the DEFUSE Project - which was an effort by the Wuhan lab to create a novel coronavirus

'We have another whistleblower from the CIA that says that the scientific committee that was commissioned to look into the origins of the virus actually voted six to one that it came from the lab and that they were overruled by superiors at the CIA,' the senator told DailyMail.com. 

The agency's reversal and its secretive meetings with Fauci are suspicious, Paul said.

Still, the official stance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is that the origin of the Earth-stopping COVID-19 pandemic likely came from bats. 

'We do not know the exact source of the current outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), but we know that it originally came from an animal, likely a bat,' the CDC website states. 

But Paul is calling that response 'batty,' revealing Tuesday that the CDC and 14 other agencies had known a about proposal from the the Wuhan lab aiming to create a novel coronavirus in 2018 - similar to the COVID-19 virus that has killed just under 1.2 million Americans and millions more globally.

The DEFUSE Project - a joint venture between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the U.S.-based pandemic prevention non-profit EcoHealth Alliance - floated the creation of a novel coronavirus during a 2018 meeting featuring representatives from at least 15 federal agencies. 

The proposal sent to the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) outlined how the Wuhan lab and EcoHealth intended to 'manipulate known viruses with spike proteins of novel viral strains,' according to Paul.   

Their proposal went to DARPA's PREventing Emerging Pathogenic Threats (PREEMPT) program.

The NIAID Rocky Laboratory was also listed as a partner in the DEFUSE proposal alongside the Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth.

That means, according to Paul, Fauci almost certainly knew about the Chinese labs' desire to create a novel coronavirus, as NIAID was a partner on the proposal.

NIAID did not return a request for comment. 

'So in January and February of 2020, instead of Anthony Fauci piping up and saying 'Oh, wow, they briefed us on this. It looks like they ended up doing what they briefed us on' instead of saying that, he commissioned people to say the opposite,' Paul told DailyMail.com.

'It makes me think there's really something there that they're hiding.' 

Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology as members of the World Health Organization team investigate the origins of COVID-19

Francis Collins (Left), head of the National Institutes of Health, and Anthony Fauci (Right), head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases could have known about the Wuhan lab's proposal to create a new coronavirus, according to Paul

Later, on January 30, 2018, DARPA hosted the 'PREEMPT Proposers Day' where the 15 federal agencies were in attendance. 

Paul claims that officials from these agencies had to be aware that the Wuhan lab, in conjunction with NIAID and EcoHealth, was mulling the creation of a coronavirus engineered to infect humans. 

'The fact that 15 agencies knew about this when the virus structure came out in January 2020 should have [said] 'I can't believe that the virus looks like exactly what they were proposing to do in research in 2018,'' Paul said. 

'Anybody that was associated with any funding that went to Wuhan is concerned that they'll get blamed basically for the pandemic.'

'And so they're trying to obscure any connections they had with this.'

Paul also mentioned how the NIAID budget for 'biomedical weapons research' was drastically increased under Fauci's leadership, which is something he also will continue to investigate.

'I think there's still something here to be found. I think that there's something worth hiding.' 

He described how federal agencies under Biden have not been helpful in his investigation.

But, he said, there is still hope. 

Scientists wear protective gear while working in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology 

'I sort of salivate at the notion that we can get a friendly administration who would have a friendly Secretary of Health and Human Services that oversees NIH,' Paul said, alluding that a Trump presidency would give him better access to sealed documents.

Still, despite November being a ways away, he will continue working 'to try to make sure this doesn't happen again.'