On her final day as the United States Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard released what she described as “never-before-seen” documents related to the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, accusing former top US health official Dr Anthony Fauci of funding controversial research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and helping suppress information about the virus’s origins.
Sharing a video message on X, Gabbard declared: “It’s time you know the truth.”
Gabbardโs big allegation: Fauci funded Wuhan researchย
At the centre of Gabbard’s accusations is Dr Anthony Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and later served as Chief Medical Adviser to former US President Joe Biden.
According to Gabbard, Fauci approved millions of dollars in US taxpayer funding for research involving bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. She claims the funding supported so-called “gain-of-function” research scientific experiments that modify viruses to study how they might become more infectious or dangerous.
The newly released documents, Gabbard said, show that such research was โconducted with US-backed funding and may have been connected to the events that eventually triggered the global pandemic.โ
What is gain-of-function research?ย
Gain-of-function research involves altering pathogens to better understand how diseases spread, evolve, or infect hosts. Someย argue the research helps scientists prepare for future outbreaks and develop vaccines. Some, however, warn that modifying viruses carries significant risks if laboratory safety measures fail.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has long been at the centre of international scrutiny because Wuhan was the city where COVID-19 first emerged in late 2019.
The three-step cover upย
Gabbard accused Fauci of orchestrating what she described as a three-part effort to hide the truth.
According to her:
- Fauci funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
- He worked with selected experts and intelligence officials to steer public and intelligence assessments toward a natural origin theory.
- He then positioned himself as the leading authority on the pandemic while dismissing or censoring alternative views.
“Fauci publicly pushed lies, disinformation and censorship using every platform available,” Gabbard alleged.
One of the most striking allegations involves the US intelligence community itself. Gabbard said whistleblowers told her office that analysts who questioned official conclusions about COVID’s origins faced pressure and retaliation.
According to her, some intelligence officers were discouraged from supporting the lab-leak theory, while others feared professional consequences for challenging the dominant narrative.
She claimed the testimony revealed a pattern of “suppressing dissent, silencing critics and burying the truth.”
Whatโs in the documents?ย
While Gabbard described the files as previously unseen, many of the issues raised in the documents have been publicly debated for years.
Reports of US-linked funding reaching research projects connected to the Wuhan lab have previously surfaced, and questions about Fauci’s role in discussions over the virus’s origins have long been part of political and scientific debates in Washington.
A review of the released files reportedly shows numerous internal emails and communications among intelligence officials. However, many sections remain heavily redacted. Critics have noted that the documents do not provide a definitive “smoking gun” proving a deliberate cover-up.
The origin of COVID-19 remains one of the biggest unresolved questions of the pandemic era. Some scientists maintain that the virus most likely jumped from animals to humans, possibly through wildlife markets in Wuhan.
Others argue that an accidental laboratory leak cannot be ruled out and deserves further investigation. In recent years, several US government agencies have expressed varying levels of confidence in the lab-leak theory, while no global consensus has emerged.
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