Anthony Fauci funded the Wuhan lab, then his inner circle worked to make sure you never found out.
Now a CIA veteran just said that under oath – and all seven Senate Democrats on the committee refused to show up.
One of Fauci's top aides is already under federal indictment for what he put in writing.
What James Erdman Said That Has Josh Hawley Calling for Indictment
James Erdman III spent two decades at the CIA and testified Wednesday at what his own attorney called "great personal risk."
He told the Senate that CIA scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19.
Those conclusions never made it into the official intelligence report.
Congress was never told.
When Paul asked whether the CIA downplayed the lab leak probability, Erdman named the man behind it: "It was significantly influenced by Anthony Fauci, injecting himself into the IC."
The director of NIAID – the man who funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology – personally intervened with the CIA and FBI to reshape what their analysts concluded about where the pandemic started.
Senator Josh Hawley didn't dance around it on Wednesday.
"He helped fund the Wuhan lab. He supported and funded gain-of-function research, and then he tried to cover it up from the American people."
"I hope he's indicted," Hawley added.
The Email That Explains Everything
While Erdman was describing the cover-up at the CIA level, the cover-up at the NIH level had already produced a federal indictment.
David Morens – Fauci's senior advisor for 16 years – was indicted by a federal grand jury last month on charges of conspiracy against the United States, destruction of federal records, and concealment of documents related to COVID-19 origins.
The key piece of evidence isn't complicated.
Morens wrote it himself, in an email: "I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA'd, but before the search starts, so I think we are all safe."
He also wrote: "I can either send stuff to Tony on his private Gmail, or hand it to him at work or at his house. He is too smart to let colleagues send him stuff that could cause trouble."
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche put it plainly in the DOJ's announcement: these were people who "deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19."
Morens allegedly did all this while accepting kickbacks – wine delivered to his home, promises of future meals at Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris, New York, and Washington – from EcoHealth Alliance's Peter Daszak, the man whose nonprofit funneled NIH grant money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
FBI Director Kash Patel called it what it was: "Weaponization of the government by its senior members in a time of global pandemic, who were entrusted to protect us."
Every Democrat on the Committee Chose Not to Show Up
Seven Democrat senators sit on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Not one walked through the door Wednesday.
Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the panel's ranking Democrat, stayed away along with every colleague he could have brought.
Senator Ron Johnson didn't let it pass.
"Nothing shocks me anymore with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle, but I'm shocked that not one of them showed up here," he told Erdman directly.
Senator Bernie Moreno named what was actually at stake.
"There's never been a situation, certainly not in my lifetime, where you had decisions made that affected generations of Americans, kids that were absolutely deprived of their childhood, businesses that were destroyed, families that were torn apart, memories that you'll never get back, trillions of dollars of economic loss."
Democrats couldn't explain why CIA analysts concluded the lab leak three separate times between 2021 and 2023 and the finding never made a single official report.
So they didn't try.
The Cleanup Operation Biden Ran on His Way Out
Paul told the committee that Biden's outgoing team directed the CIA to publish a COVID origins assessment not because of new intelligence, but to let officials claim the matter was settled on their way out the door.
"That is not analysis," Paul said. "That is a cleanup operation."
With hours left in his presidency, Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Fauci – unprecedented, and signed via autopen, which Trump has declared null and void.
His administration hasn't made that argument in court yet.
Erdman testified that Tulsi Gabbard's office is in the process of declassifying 2,000 documents related to COVID origins – and that the CIA and State Department are still refusing to turn them over.
The contractor who cooperated with investigators was fired one day after speaking with Erdman's team.
The CIA called the whole hearing "political theater" – a remarkable position for an agency that already concluded COVID most likely came from a lab, buried the finding for three years, and fired the contractor who helped investigators try to surface it.
Fauci's aide wrote down how to make evidence disappear and got indicted for it.
The Democrats who should be demanding answers are the ones who didn't show up.
Sources:
- Adam Pack, "Top 4 explosive moments from CIA whistleblower's testimony on alleged COVID-19 lab leak cover-up," Fox News, May 14, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Justice, "Former Senior NIAID Official Indicted for Concealing Federal Records During COVID-19 Pandemic," DOJ Office of Public Affairs, April 28, 2026.
- Chairman James Comer, "Comer Commends DOJ for Holding Dr. Morens Accountable for Concealing Information about COVID-19 Origins," House Oversight Committee, April 28, 2026.
- Emily Kopp, "CIA Whistleblower Alleges Cover-Up of Lab Leak Intelligence," The Daily Caller, May 13, 2026.
- Chairman Rand Paul, Opening Remarks, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Hearing, May 13, 2026.