Fauci sent an urgent email to Hugh Auchincloss, the NIAID Principal Deputy Director. It reads: “Hugh: It is essential that we speak this AM. Keep your cell phone on. I have a conference call at 7:45 AM with Azar. It likely will be over at 8:45 AM. Read this paper as well as the e-mail that I will forward to you now. You will have tasks today that must be done. Thanks, Tony”

The same day, he recieved a reply from Auchincloss. It reads: “The paper you sent me says the experiments were performed before the gain of function pause but have since been reviewed and approved by NIH. Not sure what that means since Emily is sure that no Coronavirus work has gone through the P3 framework. She will try to determine if we have any distant ties to this work abroad.”

Fauci replied, “OK. Stay tuned.”