CIA Officer Testified Under Oath and Used One Word That Should Put Fauci Away
In May 2021, Anthony Fauci sat before Congress and swore the NIH had never funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab.
Now a 20-year CIA officer just told the United States Senate, under oath, that Fauci knew exactly what he was doing.
The word he used was "intentional" – and what he said next is why every Democrat on the committee refused to show up.
The Moment Five Years of Lies Collapsed in a Senate Hearing Room
James Erdman III, a senior CIA operations officer who spent the last year leading the Director of National Intelligence's investigation into COVID origins under Tulsi Gabbard, sat before Rand Paul's Senate Homeland Security Committee Wednesday and delivered testimony that should have been front-page news across the country.
It wasn't a theory. It wasn't speculation.
Erdman said CIA scientific analysts concluded – multiple times between 2021 and 2023 – that a laboratory leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19.
Those conclusions never made it into the official intelligence report.
Congress was never told.
And Erdman said he knows why.
"Dr. Fauci's role in the cover-up was intentional," Erdman testified. "Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials, and scientists."
Translation: Fauci hand-picked the referees and made sure they were already on his team.
The scientists he steered the intelligence community toward were the same ones who had publicly rejected the lab-leak theory – and many had financial ties to the federally-funded research at the center of the investigation.
The Five-Day Flip That Nobody Can Explain
The most explosive moment in Erdman's testimony wasn't the accusation against Fauci.
It was August 12, 2021.
That was the day the CIA was actively preparing a public announcement declaring COVID-19 originated from a lab leak – the conclusion their own scientists had reached following a 90-day review.
Five days later, on August 17, that conclusion was gone.
The official position flipped to neutral. No documentation explaining why. No record of who ordered it.
When Rand Paul pressed Erdman on this, the answer was devastating: "The CIA would not provide us documentation that we asked for. We have no idea why that changed."
Rand Paul called it exactly what it was: "That is not analysis. That is a clean-up operation."
"Public health policy would have been very different," Erdman testified, "had the American public been made aware that a virus from a lab in China was going to serve as the foundation for an Emergency Use Authorization mRNA product being mandated by the former administration."
The CIA Rewarded Analysts Who Changed Their Answers
Erdman walked the committee through a 2022-2023 internal CIA review that involved 10 analysts, including seven technical subject-matter experts.
Eight of the 10 initially concluded the pandemic most likely had a laboratory origin.
The final published assessment told a different story.
The outside scientists brought in to guide that review had their own problem: they were simultaneously advising intelligence agencies while holding federal research funding and maintaining professional ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Erdman named names – including prominent University of North Carolina virologist Ralph Baric, a federally-funded collaborator on coronavirus research with WIV scientists.
You couldn't design a more conflicted panel if you tried.
When analysts refused to go along with the reversal, CIA management punished them for it – Erdman testified the agency retaliated against officers who held their ground.
And when Gabbard's team was conducting the origins investigation under direct presidential authority, the CIA was watching them do it.
"The CIA illegally monitored the computer and phone usage of DIG personnel, their investigations, and contact with whistleblowers," Erdman said. "These were Americans being spied on illegally while carrying out duties directed by the President."
One CIA contractor assisting the investigation was fired the day after meeting with Gabbard's team.
When investigators tried to access the responsive documents, the CIA stonewalled – refusing to turn over materials even to the office that legally oversees it.
Erdman also testified the agency seized 40 boxes of JFK and MK-Ultra files that Gabbard had been in the process of reviewing for declassification.
Fauci Walks Free While His Aide Faces 51 Years in Prison
Two days before Erdman testified, the five-year statute of limitations expired on Fauci's perjury before Congress.
He won't be charged, unless it’s by state officials.
Biden made sure of it with a sweeping preemptive pardon issued on his final night in office – covering Fauci's official acts going back to 2014.
But Fauci's top adviser, David Morens, wasn't so lucky.
Morens was indicted last month on five federal counts – conspiracy, destruction of records, and concealment of federal documents – for allegedly using his personal Gmail account to coordinate the suppression of COVID origins records and shield communications from FOIA requests.
He faces up to 51 years in prison.
Sen. Josh Hawley didn't mince words after Erdman's testimony: "We just heard testimony that he intervened behind the scenes to try and get our own intelligence agency, CIA, FBI to change their assessment of the lab leak. Why? Because he helped fund the Wuhan lab. He supported and funded gain-of-function research, and then he tried to cover it up."
Not one Senate Democrat showed up to hear any of it.
"There's no curiosity on the other side about what's happening inside the deep state," Sen. Ron Johnson said from the dais.
They called you crazy for asking. A CIA officer just confirmed, under oath, that the people calling you crazy knew the truth the whole time.
Sources:
- Daily Caller Staff, "CIA Whistleblower James Erdman Alleges Coverup of Lab Leak Intelligence," Daily Caller, May 13, 2026.
- Adam Pack, "Top 4 Explosive Moments From CIA Whistleblower's Testimony on Alleged COVID-19 Lab Leak Cover-Up," Fox News, May 13, 2026.
- Staff, "CIA Whistleblower: Fauci Led Multi-Agency Cover-Up of COVID Lab Leak Evidence," Children's Health Defense, May 13, 2026.
- Staff, "BOMBSHELL CIA Testimony: Fauci Accused of INTENTIONALLY Burying COVID Lab Leak Evidence," Modernity News, May 13, 2026.
- Staff, "CIA Whistleblower Alleges COVID Lab-Leak Findings Were Suppressed by Agency," U.S. Right to Know, May 13, 2026.
- Staff, "CIA Suppressed Conclusion That COVID Came From Chinese Lab: Whistleblower," Washington Times, May 13, 2026.
- Staff, "Why the CIA Was Not Pleased With Yesterday's COVID Whistleblower Hearing," Townhall, May 14, 2026.
- Rep. Nancy Mace Press Release, "Rep. Nancy Mace Calls on DOJ to Indict Fauci Before Statute of Limitations Expires," May 29, 2026.
