Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and a group of Senate Republicans on Thursday offered to pay an analyst to change his position on the Central Intelligence Agency's theory of a COVID-19 lab leak. A follow-up letter was sent regarding the whistleblowing allegations. .

The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the letter, which referred to testimony by senior CIA officials to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). Eighteen Republican senators also joined Paul in sending a follow-up letter.

“These allegations raise concerns about the novel coronavirus, especially in light of a June 2023 unclassified Office of the Director of National Intelligence report stating that the CIA remains unable to determine the exact origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.” “This raises serious questions about the agency's investigation into the pandemic,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. “The agency's refusal to cooperate with a senator's request for information regarding a whistleblower complaint is unacceptable. The CIA is required to respond to requests for congressional oversight by all senators, regardless of which committee they are assigned to. I have an obligation.” (Related: Exclusive: Sen. Paul requests information about NIH employees using personal emails to cover up origins of COVID-19)

The follow-up letter was written in September by Sen. Paul and other Republican senators to CIA Director William J. Burns to help evaluate the whistleblower's claims about the agency's investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was submitted after requesting additional documents and information related to the.

Here's what the lawmakers are asking in their letter:

• All documents and communications related to the establishment of all iterations of the Coronavirus Discovery Team.
• All documentation and communications between members of all iterations of the coronavirus discovery team regarding the origins of COVID-19.
• All documentation and communications regarding the origins of COVID-19 between members of all iterations of the COVID-19 Discovery Team and other employees or contractors of the agency.
• All documents and communications between all recurring members of the COVID-19 Discovery Team and employees or contractors of other federal agencies, including but not limited to the U.S. Department of State, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Department of Internal Affairs and Communications. Health and Human Services, including the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the U.S. Department of Energy regarding the origins of the viral infection (COVID-19).
• All documents and communications relating to the conclusions of the COVID-19 Investigation Team and any subsequent revisions to such conclusions.