Fauci-Linked Virologist Under FBI Investigation for Smuggling Dangerous Pathogens Into U.S.

This article originally appeared on The Defender and was republished with permission. Guest post by Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. A virologist linked to Dr. Anthony Fauci is facing an FBI criminal investigation for allegedly smuggling unsecured samples of dangerous pathogens into the U.S. earlier this year, The Disinformation Chronicle first reported Tuesday. Earlier this year, Vincent Munster, Ph.D., a virologist with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo with NIH scientist Claude Kwe Yinda, Ph.D., When they returned to the U.S., they were stopped for an airport security check, which revealed “pathogen samples collected from patients.” The Disinformation Chronicle reported that the samples included monkeypox virus — classified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a “select agent,” or organism that poses a severe threat to public safety. The Democratic Republic of Congo, located in sub-Saharan Africa, is widely considered the global epicenter of monkeypox. The U.S. Department of Transportation regulates the shipment and transport of pathogens. Munster and Yinda did not have the legally required paperwork to transport the pathogens or bring them into the U.S. The NIH has placed the two scientists on leave, and they have been removed from HHS’ staff directory. The FBI’s investigation into Munster and Yinda comes amid a flurry of activity involving virologists linked to Fauci and controversial gain-of-function research. Evidence suggests that researchers may have created SARS-CoV-2 in a lab and that the virus escaped the lab, leading to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week, a grand jury indicted Dr. David Morens, a former top aide to Fauci, for conspiracy to hide government records on COVID-19’s origins. The NIH reportedly pulled all grants issued to virologist Ralph Baric, Ph.D., who worked with Fauci and researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology before and during the pandemic. One theory behind the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it resulted from a leak at the Wuhan Lab, where researchers were conducting gain-of-function research. The controversial research increases the virulence or transmissibility of viruses and is used to develop vaccines targeting that virus. Investigative journalist Paul D. Thacker, author of The Disinformation Chronicle’s report, told The Defender that reckless handling of dangerous pathogens is commonplace among many virologists. “No one really knows what’s going on in these labs,” Thacker said. “These guys just go out and collect stuff randomly and bring it back.” Thacker called such virologists “a bunch of cowboys.” HHS and the FBI did not respond to The Defender’s request for comment by press time. According to The Disinformation Chronicle, Munster and Yinda’s transport of unsecured and potentially dangerous pathogens may reflect a “laissez-faire safety culture endemic to virology” — yet, the two recently co-authored a study on the threat of spreading dangerous pathogens “without a hint of irony.” In February, Munster and Yinda were among the co-authors of a study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases that characterized monkeypox as a global threat. The authors warned of “multiple travel-associated cases reported since 2024, including seven in the USA.” The recent cases include two Chinese nationals charged with criminal conspiracy for attempting to transport a dangerous fungus into the U.S. to study it at a University of Michigan lab. Yet, Munster has long been involved in gain-of-function research — including research that may have contributed to the laboratory creation of SARS-CoV-2. Gain-of-function research is “dangerous to everyone,” said Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., senior research scientist for Children’s Health Defense. He said the monkeypox virus “is a candidate to repeat a pandemic” and is “evolutionarily related to smallpox.” “The last two sentences of my written testimony to the recent Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations reads: ‘The COVID-19 pandemic created over 100 billionaires in the United States and over 1,000 billionaires around the world. Anything that profitable is going to repeat,’” Jablonowski said. In 2018, Munster was listed as a partner in a proposal for the DEFUSE Project. The proposal, submitted to the federal government’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), proposed altering bat viruses by inserting a spike protein with a furin cleavage site — which would enable that virus to infect human lungs. “DARPA denied funding for DEFUSE, but the following year, a novel bat virus with a furin cleavage site began infecting humans in Wuhan,” The Disinformation Chronicle wrote. “No other virus closely related to the COVID virus has this furin cleavage site.” Baric was the lead author on the DEFUSE proposal — and later played a “central role” with Fauci and other public health officials and researchers in promoting the “zoonotic” theory of COVID-19’s origins. The zoonotic theory suggests the virus evolved in nature — even though Baric privately questioned the safety of “risky” gain-of-function research. Justin Goodman, senior vice president of Advocacy & Public Policy at White Coat Waste, a watchdog group that has investigated Munster, said, “Munster’s fingerprints are definitely on the infamous scheme with EcoHealth and the Wuhan animal lab to create a coronavirus like the one that caused COVID.” Baric and Fauci also closely collaborated with Peter Daszak, Ph.D. — the former president of EcoHealth Alliance, who had financial ties to the Wuhan Lab and who also played a key role in promoting the zoonotic theory. Munster has maintained ties with Daszak and EcoHealth Alliance over the years — including research they co-authored in 2022 on Nipah Virus detection in bat roosts. Munster and EcoHealth scientists were both cited in a 2017 Science article about “hunting” for the Ebola virus among African bat colonies. An investigation by White Coat Waste included information suggesting that Munster played a significant role in helping EcoHealth Alliance secure funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) for the so-called “Wuhan West” bat laboratory at Colorado State University. Munster co-authored the 2016 proposal for the “Wuhan West,” White Coat Waste revealed. In 2020, Munster requested NIAID funding for the project. Fauci led NIAID at the time. In 2023, White Coat Waste revealed that Munster was the lead author on a 2018 NIH project that infected bats with a Chinese bat coronavirus strain cloned from a virus that was first collected by the Wuhan Lab and EcoHealth Alliance. Munster also helped organize a bat virus conference, along with EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology researcher Shi Zhengli, Ph.D., at Colorado State University after the pandemic began. Munster and Baric are among those implicated in Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) ongoing congressional investigation into COVID-19’s origins. In 2024, HHS suspended all funding for the EcoHealth Alliance for failing to properly monitor the safety of its coronavirus experiments. DEFUSE is not the only bat virus-related research project with ties to Munster. DARPA records obtained by watchdog group U.S. Right to Know show that Munster led another project, “PREEMPT,” involving the cultivation of Egyptian fruit bats. According to scientist and author Jim Haslam, the project involved raising “the exact breeding colony of bats Munster used to aerosolize SARS-CoV-2 in 2019.” Emails from 2020 that The Disinformation Chronicle publicized included a message that Columbia University virologist Vincent Racaniello, Ph.D., sent to Munster in February 2020, discussing rumors that the then-new COVID-19 virus contained a furin cleavage site “that might have been engineered.” “If true this is very bad for all of virology research,” Racaniello wrote. Munster’s response? “And the fun begins.” The following year, Munster told Nature Magazine there wa…