The Pardon Arms Race Escalates

As talk about "preemptive pardons" heats up, one Senate Committee has rekindled searches for pandemic answers, while the transition is also preparing new probes

The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs (HSGAC) sent letters to a dozen federal agencies, demanding they preserve documents pertaining to Covid’s origins. The letters show the investigation is far from over, despite release of a 512-page report from a House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that appeared to close the book on one major congressional probe by concluding Covid-19 was “likely” caused by “laboratory or research-related accident.”

The letters collectively read like an overview of the investigation as viewed from the Republican side, focusing on information believed to have been improperly hidden by the outgoing administration. “They didn’t get everything, they know it, and they’re pissed. We all are,” is how one transition source put it, adding that at least two Executive Branch agencies are also wargaming new Covid probes.

Ranking member Rand Paul of Kentucky three weeks ago expressed frustration about alleged stonewalling over “gain-of-function” research. “NIH and HHS have refused to turn over the documents as to why Wuhan got this research money,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting those.”

Preservation letters from Paul’s Committee were sent out on November 26th to those two agencies as well as the Departments of Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Agriculture, along with the FBI, USAID, NSA, and CIA. Copies of some of the letters can be found below. Some of the more suggestive requests: