The House Special Subcommittee on Oversight on the Coronavirus Pandemic issued its first subpoena on Friday to Dr. Christian Andersen, co-author of one of the earliest and most extensive scientific papers on the origins of COVID-19.

“The closest origin of SARS-CoV-2‘ was published in March 2020 and became a highly influential paper refuting the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated in a laboratory. Recent developments since the paper’s publication have revived the lab leak theory while questioning Andersen’s co-authorship and alternative hypotheses about the origin of the pandemic.

Select Subcommittee has been published memo In March, it documented allegations and revelations that cast doubt on the paper’s claims.

Friday’s subpoena is intended to further investigate the memo’s findings. according to Press release from the subcommittee.that is transcribed interview Andersen said on June 16 that he and his co-authors discussed the paper in a private Slack channel rather than by email. Republican Ohio legislator and subcommittee chairman Brad Wenstrup is “specifically seeking Slack messages related to the drafting, publication, and critical reception” of the “Proximal Origins” paper, according to a press release. It says.

🚨Subpoena Alert🚨@COVIDSelect Publishes first subpoena for personal correspondence between Christian Andersen, author of Proximal Origins, and co-authors of the paper, and relevant information about the origins of COVID-19.

We are tracing the breadcrumbs of the COVID-19 cover-up directly to the source. pic.twitter.com/OJUR7zWyWD

— Selective Working Group on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) June 23, 2023

A March memo argued that Dr. Anthony Fauci may have played a more important role in the development of the paper than previously thought. Fauci previously served as chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, was director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NAIAD), and a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH had previously funded a dangerous gain-of-function study at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is central to the lab leak theory. (Related: ‘I won’t let anything pass’: Rand Paul vows to block Biden from running until coronavirus documents are released

“Americans have a right to know why this happened, who was involved, and how we can prevent the suppression of scientific speech during future pandemics,” the task force said. . tweeted Friday.