US Justice Department investigates Fauci and at least seven other scientists

The US Justice Department has widened its investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to at least eight scientists, including former US infectious-disease leader Anthony Fauci and Nobel laureate Richard Roberts, The New York Times reported.

FBI investigators and federal prosecutors have requested the scientists’ phone and email communications, grant and payment records, and testimony before a grand jury. It remains unclear what conclusions the investigations have reached or how far the cases have progressed.

Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the inquiry has expanded well beyond its original question of whether the coronavirus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. Investigators are examining whether Fauci and other US scientists pressured virologists in early 2020 to play down the possibility of a laboratory origin.

David Morens, a former Fauci adviser at the National Institutes of Health, is also central to the investigation. Morens admitted guilt in August to conspiracy to conceal federal documents. He had redirected official emails to a private account, including messages discussing the defense of researchers connected to the Wuhan laboratory. Prosecutors in his case also sought documents related to Fauci.

Fauci rejects the allegations. His lawyer said the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had done nothing wrong and that there was no basis for investigating him.

The origin of COVID-19 has not been definitively established. Some researchers support a laboratory-origin theory, while most scientists continue to favor natural transmission from animals to humans. US intelligence agencies have previously assessed that there was no evidence that the virus originated at the Wuhan laboratory.