Tulsi Gabbard Releases Documents Alleging Fauci Covered Up COVID-19 Origins

On her final day as Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard released a cache of declassified documents and communications alleging that Dr. Anthony Fauci funded dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology using millions in taxpayer dollars. The release, the result of a yearlong review mandated by President Donald Trump, claims Fauci collaborated with the intelligence community to suppress the lab-leak theory and steer assessments toward a natural origin narrative.

Gabbard accused Fauci of lying under oath during a June 3, 2024, congressional hearing by denying regular communication with intelligence agencies. The released materials include whistleblower testimony detailing professional retaliation against analysts who supported the lab-leak hypothesis and a May 2020 assessment from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory stating that conditions for an accidental release of a laboratory-modified coronavirus were present in Wuhan in late 2019.

The documents also highlight the role of virologist Ralph Baric as an advisor to intelligence agencies and reference reports of Wuhan researchers falling ill in 2019. Fauci has previously dismissed such claims and maintained that animal-to-human transmission was the most likely cause of the pandemic. Former President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon to Fauci in January 2025. Gabbard stepped down from her position to support her husband's treatment for a rare bone cancer.