Dr Anthony Fauci covered up the origin of the Covid pandemic by steering officials away from the lab leak theory, a CIA whistleblower has claimed to Congress.
James Erdman, a former special operations officer, told the Senate Dr Fauci "significantly influenced" the CIA's "neutral" findings on the source of the pandemic.
Mr Erdman said Dr Fauci suggested the agency consult "experts" who were aligned with his view the virus came about spontaneously.
Testifying under oath, he said CIA investigators were leaning towards the lab leak theory until Dr Fauci intervened.
"Dr Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional," Mr Erdman said.
He added: "Dr Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC [intelligence community] consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject-matter experts, public-health officials and scientists."
The hearing was boycotted by every member of the Democratic Party and was not attended by Dr Fauci, who retired in 2022.
Mr Erdman also alleged the CIA had "illegally monitored" the phones and computer of the Director's Initiatives Group, who reviewed the intelligence community's handling of the Covid pandemic's origins.
Republicans have alleged that Dr Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, rejected the theory Covid-19 was engineered and leaked from the Wuhan Insitute of Virology due to a conflict of interest.
James Erdman alleged Dr Anthony Fauci 'significantly influenced' the CIA as they determined a 'neutral' finding
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Republican Senator Rand Paul, who chaired the meeting of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, repeatedly accused Dr Fauci of covering up the lab leak theory because his former agency funded another body, the EcoHealth Alliance, which in turn financed research in Wuhan.
Mr Paul said the funding was "gain-of-function" research, which involves deliberately making a virus more infectious to humans to study its effects in a lab.
Dr Fauci has strenuously denied the claims.
"The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology," he has previously said.
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Rand Paul said James Erdman came forward 'at great personal risk' because 'the truth was being buried'
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The CIA initially came to a "neutral" verdict on the origins of COVID-19 but changed position in January last year, five days after Donald Trump took office.
A spokesman for the agency said in a statement on January 25 that the CIA "assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting".
The spokesman continued: "CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural-origin scenarios of the Covid-19 pandemic remain plausible."
John Ratcliffe, who was appointed as the CIA director in 2025, told Breitbart News: "I’ve been on record, as you know, in saying I think our intelligence, our science and our common sense all really dictates that the origins of Covid was a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
James Erdman 'illegally monitored' the phones and computers of those investigating the Covid-19 pandemic's origins
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Mr Paul said Mr Erdman had come forward "at great personal risk” because "the truth was being buried".
Dr Fauci believes the coronavirus originated in bats and most likely jumped via another species to humans, with the food market at Wuhan which sells various animal species suggested as a likely source.
After the hearing concluded, a CIA spokeswoman said the hearing was an act of "political theatre", as the CIA already determined the lab leak was the origin of the pandemic.
The spokeswoman said: "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 truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul.
"This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theatre 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."