_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Last week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard used her final day in office to declassify hundreds of pages of documents alleging that Dr. Anthony Fauci steered US intelligence agencies away from investigating the lab-leak theory of COVID-19 and lied to Congress about his involvement.
The release includes internal communications, whistleblower testimony, and evidence that Fauci directed millions in taxpayer dollars toward gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
_THE FACTS_
Fauci had a direct conflict of interest: his NIAID institute funded the exact coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab that he was advising intelligence agencies to assess.
While briefing the CIA, Fauci “keyed in on specifics” about the Wuhan Institute of Virology’s experiments on pangolin samples, insisting on the “natural-origins” theory.
Whistleblowers who challenged the natural-origin theory faced retaliation, career setbacks, and intimidation from intelligence officials.
When a whistleblower filed a complaint in August 2021 alleging Fauci committed perjury, the IC Inspector General refused to investigate.
The Z Division, an elite bioweapons unit, concluded in May 2020 that Wuhan had everything needed for a lab accident, only to see its findings brushed aside.
Z Division cited both published research and classified CIA field intelligence in its analysis.
The documents reference sick researchers at the Wuhan lab in fall 2019, corroborating reports that senior intelligence officials actively suppressed.
Fauci lied under oath to Congress in 2024, denying he had spoken to intelligence agencies about COVID-19 research — contradicted by the declassified emails.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) subpoenaed Fauci to testify next month.
_OUR TAKE_
Fauci swore under oath he had no contact with intelligence agencies about COVID's origins, but these documents show he was receiving direct briefings and exchanging emails with intelligence officials the whole time.
He lied to Congress to cover his own tracks, which is especially damning given that his institute was funding the research he was helping the government evaluate.
Now that Rand Paul has subpoenaed him to testify next month, and after years of dodging accountability, Fauci will finally have to explain why his sworn testimony doesn't match all the evidence stacked up against him.
