Declassified Documents Show Fauci Consulted With Intelligence Community on COVID Origins
Updated
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released hundreds of pages of previously classified records while stating these records show a “clear pattern of suppressing dissent, silencing critics, and burying the truth” by Dr. Anthony Fauci related to the origins of COVID-19. The documents include internal Intelligence Community (IC) emails, NIH grant reports, briefing readouts, and whistleblower materials. The documents corroborate recent revelations made by CIA whistleblower James E. Erdman III, who said during a Senate hearing that Fauci intentionally worked with intelligence agencies to cover up the real origins that sparked a worldwide pandemic.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thanked Gabbard for “documenting Dr. Fauci’s central role in causing the COVID-19 pandemic — among the most consequential crimes in human history.”
The trove of documents shows Dr. Fauci was the primary funder of the coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but was also considered as a potential reviewer of the research by the IC. Internal ODNI deliberations revealed that Dr. Fauci was flagged due to this conflict of interest. While he was not chosen to be a part of the investigation, the IC did determine it was appropriate for Dr. Fauci to make recommendations for experts that should be consulted as part of the review.
The documents also corroborate reports that Dr. Fauci lied under oath during a 2024 hearing when he was asked whether he spoke to any US intelligence agencies about viral research. In response to that question, Dr. Fauci said, “Not to my knowledge.” Gabbard’s DNI press release states that Fauci had such a strong relationship with the IC throughout the pandemic that they created a “self-serving circular reporting loop.”
The press release suggests that Fauci’s IC relationships enabled him to get high-ranking roles that “shielded him from scrutiny as he wielded outsized influence.” Specifically, Fauci funded the Gain-of-Function research in Wuhan to pursue the manufacturing of profitable vaccines while consulting with the IC to hand-pick the experts who would investigate the research. Fauci most famously served as a “pandemic pundit,” during which he “publicly pushed lies, disinformation, and censorship,” according to the DNI release.
Other details from the release provide more details into the research itself, which is more widely considered to be the origin of COVID-19, despite the lab-leak theory long being considered a “conspiracy theory.” While previous FOIA releases and Congressional inquiries provided general details about the research and NIAID Director Fauci as the source of those, these documents provide more granular details.
EcoHealth Alliance received funding from Fauci’s NIAID for the grant “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” Specific Aim 3 involved experiments with live viruses, reverse genetics, humanized mice, and receptor-binding assays on bat coronaviruses. NIH progress reports document that researchers infected human ACE2 transgenic mice with chimeric bat coronaviruses, with one report noting that all four SARS-related CoVs tested caused lethal infection and one strain resulted in 75% mortality. These results were all reported to NIAID with Fauci at the helm.
Peter Daszak of EcoHealth Alliance, alongside WIV researchers, briefed these results to Chinese institutions, which raises significant national security concerns. In 2012, Dr. Fauci wrote a paper acknowledging the dangerous risks of GoF research while arguing the research should continue because the risk of a pandemic is more likely than the risk of a lab leak.
In 2016, Daszak was seen in a video describing the manipulation of coronavirus spike proteins for increased virulence. During a viral Congressional testimony in 2021, Dr. Fauci insisted that Senator Rand Paul was incorrect for claiming NIAID funded GoF research in Wuhan under Fauci’s supervision. He said, “Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely and completely incorrect. The NIH has never and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Daszak’s statement about manipulating coronaviruses for increased virulence, which falls under the scientific definition of GoF research. It was approved in 2014, just four months before President Obama issued a pause on a narrow definition of GoF research. The NIH did not classify the Wuhan coronavirus research as falling under that narrow definition, which is why Fauci denied funding the GoF research in Wuhan. President Biden’s autopen pardon of Dr. Fauci was dated back to 2014, the year the research grant to EcoHealth Alliance was approved.
A whistleblower complaint dated August 11, 2021, alleged that Fauci made false statements to Congress about GoF research. The IC Inspector General determined it was not an “urgent concern” because Fauci was not an IC official. Instead of referring the complaint to the independent HHS Inspector General, the IC sent the complaint to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Secretary Becerra took no action on the complaint.
A document dated June 4, 2021, reveals the CIA had a 40-minute classified briefing with Fauci discussing the three WIV researchers who became ill in 2019, classified pangolin coronavirus research at the lab, and questions about single versus multi-lineage evolution. Fauci recommended specific scientists to the IC to conduct assessments on the origins of COVID-19.
The University of North Carolina’s Ralph Baric collaborated with the WIV on a 2018 coronavirus engineering proposal. Baric was also a part of the Biological Science Expert Group (BSEG) that advised the IC multiple times.
Senator Rand Paul has repeatedly called for investigations into Dr. Fauci regarding his alleged role in covering up the Wuhan research as a potential source of the COVID-19 virus. Senator Paul has also frequently asked for charges to be brought against Fauci for lying during Congressional testimony. On Monday, Senator Paul said Fauci notified him that he would not be voluntarily testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as he previously agreed. Senator Paul has now issued a subpoena for Fauci to testify publicly before the committee.
Fauci’s advisor, David Morens, was indicted in April on conspiracy charges and concealing records related to the origins of COVID-19. President Biden’s pardon of Fauci, dated back to 2014, technically shields him from any liability dating back to his approval of the EcoHealth Alliance grant, but there is a potential to challenge the authority of a pardon that was signed by an autopen.
Dr. Fauci, who was the highest-paid federal employee at the time of his retirement in 2022, is currently receiving a pension of approximately $400,000 annually.