An active CIA agent has accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of orchestrating a cover-up that derailed American spies from blaming the Covid pandemic on China. CIA officer James Erdman told senators on Capitol Hill that in August 2021, the intelligence community was on the verge of concluding the pandemic leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. But just days before the bombshell finding could be released, Fauci 'injected himself' into the probe and 'significantly influenced' intelligence officials to drop their conclusion. Fauci was then head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

'Dr. Fauci's role in the cover-up was intentional,' Erdman told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning. '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,' he said. Republican Senator Rand Paul asked Erdman, a career CIA special operations officer, whether Fauci played a 'significant' role in CIA scientists abandoning their consensus that the disease originated from a lab. 'It was significantly influenced,' Erdman replied before claiming that documentation shows the CIA was poised to declare Covid a lab leak on August 12, 2021. Just five days later, on August 17, that position had mysteriously flipped.

The lab leak theory states that Covid-19 escaped from a Chinese research lab in Wuhan rather than spreading naturally from animals to humans. The CIA officially backed the claim with 'low confidence' in January 2025 after years of refusing to take a position on the virus's origins. Tensions between Senator Paul and the CIA have flared after the agency accused the senator of acting in bad faith by subpoenaing Erdman to testify before the committee. Fauci has not responded to the latest allegations. Erdman also revealed at Wednesday's Senate hearing that the CIA 'illegally monitored' the phones and computers of federal analysts investigating the origins of the virus.

'The CIA illegally monitored the computer and phone usage of DIG [Director's Initiatives Group] personnel, their investigations, and contact with whistleblowers,' he added. The CIA officer went on to claim these Americans were spied on at the direction of then-President Joe Biden. 'These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence.' The bombshell CIA testimony comes as the Department of Justice ramps up its investigation into Fauci's conduct during the pandemic. Rand Paul, meanwhile, is leading calls for the former NIAID director to be prosecuted over his congressional testimony on Covid's origins.

Trump's DOJ indicted Dr. David Morens, 78, Fauci's longtime senior adviser at NIAID, two weeks ago on multiple felony charges, including conspiracy against the United States and the destruction and concealment of federal records. Federal prosecutors claim Morens allegedly used a private Gmail account to evade Freedom of Information Act requests and was caught in emails boasting that he had learned how to 'make emails disappear.' Fauci himself was preemptively pardoned by former President Joe Biden in the final days of his administration to shield him from any future 'politically motivated prosecutions.'