In a Tuesday op-ed, Paul writes that government officials from 15 federal agencies "knew in 2018 that the Wuhan Institute of Virology was trying to create a coronavirus like COVID-19."

These officials knew that the Chinese lab was proposing to create a COVID 19-like virus and not one of these officials revealed this scheme to the public. In fact, 15 agencies with knowledge of this project have continuously refused to release any information concerning this alarming and dangerous research.

Government officials representing at least 15 federal agencies were briefed on a project proposed by Peter Daszak's EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. -Rand Paul

Paul is talking about the DEFUSE project, which was revealed after DRASTIC Research uncovered documents showing that DARPA had been presented with a proposal for EcoHealth to perform gain-of-function research on bat coronavirus.