(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A CIA whistleblower testified on Wednesday about how former COVID czar Anthony Fauci suppressed the intelligence community’s findings that coronavirus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Speaking to only Republicans because Democrats boycotted the hearing, CIA operations officer James Erdman said that his agency was initially leaning towards classifying COVID-19 as a lab leak—until Fauci put his thumb on the scale.
“Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional,” Erdman testified—explaining that the former COVID czar curated a list of biased researchers to convince intelligence agencies that the disease came from nature. In some cases, those same scientists may have been involved in COVID’s creation.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who chaired the hearing, blasted the specific list of biased scientists who were involved in the alleged coverup.
CIA whistleblower reveals:
• The CIA IS STILL blocking full declassification of COVID documents.
• Fauci inserted proxies into the National Intelligence Council to push the “Proximal Origins” propaganda paper claiming natural origin.
• The CIA never addressed Fauci’s… pic.twitter.com/FCEHvMUIi6
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) May 13, 2026
“For example, Dr. Ralph Baric collaborated with Dr. Zhengli Shi in Wuhan, China, to create gain-of-function coronaviruses. But Dr. Baric was also part of BSEG and an active consultant to intelligence agencies on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
“Likewise, Peter Daszak received hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. government and worked with Dr. Shi on gain-of-function experiments. Daszak was also sent to China with the WHO to investigate the origins of COVID,” he added.
“So, the scientists commissioned to investigate COVID origins were, in some cases, the very scientists who were complicit in the gain of function experiments that may have created COVID.”
Dr. Paul was specifically scathing in his remarks towards Fauci.
“During COVID, intelligence officials arranged for Dr. Fauci to review highly classified intelligence assessments that could not even be sent outside the White House complex. But how can Anthony Fauci objectively comment on a discussion of COVID origins when he approved the very funding that may have created the pandemic virus?” Paul asked.
“From the outset of the pandemic, Dr. Fauci shaped the conclusions. Dozens of times, he referred to the idea that the pandemic originated in the lab as a conspiracy.”
Erdman and Dr. Paul were referring to what’s been deemed the “90-day sprint”—when former President Joe Biden ordered his intelligence agencies to conduct an expedited study into Covid’s origins.
As has been widely documented, the FBI concluded with “moderate confidence” that COVID likely originated from a lab leak. Three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, part of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, also reportedly concluded that “Covid-19 was manipulated in a laboratory in a risky research effort.”
The CIA was initially going to side with those agencies, according to Erdman. But after Fauci influenced the agency, the CIA decided to stay neutral. So when Biden was briefed on the matter in August 2021, no proponents of the lab leak theory were present.
In response to the Erdman’s testimony, the CIA said Paul’s committee “acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously.”
The Committee acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an Agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously. The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the…
— Liz Lyons (@CIASpox) May 13, 2026
“The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul,” CIA spokesman Liz Lyons said.
“This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing. As the CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous.”
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
