CIA Whistleblower James Erdman Testifies Fauci Intentionally Steered Intelligence Reports Away from COVID Lab-Leak Theory (Video)

WASHINGTON — CIA operations officer James Erdman III told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci improperly inserted himself into intelligence community deliberations on the origins of COVID-19 and directed analysts to favor the natural-origin theory over evidence pointing to a lab leak in Wuhan.

Erdman, a 20-year veteran of CIA operations, testified under oath that Fauci twice intervened directly in the intelligence assessment process — first on Feb. 3, 2020, and again on June 4, 2021 — to push the zoonotic narrative. He stated that Fauci provided the intelligence community with a “conflicted list of curated subject-matter experts, public-health officials and scientists” aligned with his own views, leading analytic managers to override the conclusions of subject-matter experts and standard analytical tradecraft.

“Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional,” Erdman said. He added that early internal CIA analysts had voted 5-1 in favor of the lab-leak hypothesis as early as 2020, yet senior leaders shifted the agency’s position to “neutral” after Fauci’s involvement.

The testimony was delivered in response to a subpoena from the Senate Homeland Security Committee and comes one day after the statute of limitations expired on potential criminal referrals related to Fauci’s congressional testimony about gain-of-function research. Former President Joe Biden pardoned Fauci last year, shielding him from prosecution.

Erdman told senators that intelligence community leaders and senior analysts consistently downplayed the possibility that the pandemic originated from a lab incident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, despite credible evidence. He described the actions as resulting in a “cover-up,” whether intentional or not.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has long pressed for accountability on COVID origins, chaired the hearing and highlighted Erdman’s claims as evidence of politicized intelligence. Democrats largely boycotted the session, and the CIA dismissed the proceedings as political theater.

The hearing is the latest development in congressional efforts to examine the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 origins debate, which for years labeled the lab-leak theory a conspiracy before multiple agencies, including the FBI and Department of Energy, assessed it as the most likely explanation.