Gabbard releases documents claiming Fauci influenced COVID origins study

Just before Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard left her post amid a contentious fight over who would replace her, she took one of her final actions on the U.S. intelligence community: Dr. He used it to highlight Anthony Fauci’s role in the controversy surrounding the government’s review of the origins of COVID-19.

While much of the material is familiar, Gabbard’s statement underscores an effort to make questions surrounding Fauci, the origins of COVID and federal support for virus research part of the closing legacy in the intelligence community.

While Gabbard makes her final move, Bill Pulte, who has drawn bipartisan criticism for his lack of intelligence experience, is poised to take the reins of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as Trump’s permanent nominee lingers.

Jay Clayton, the attorney and former SEC chairman Trump nominated to permanently lead the ODNI, saw his confirmation process delayed after the president said he was delaying the nomination to pressure Congress to pass the voter ID measure.

Why did TRUMP choose Bill Pulte to lead US intelligence when critics questioned his qualifications?

Pulte is a construction businessman and housing official who served as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. His tenure at the housing agency sparked controversy over allegations that he used FHFA authority to target Trump’s political rivals; The allegation reinforces concerns among key senators that he may seek to weaponize the intelligence community at the president’s behest during his interim term.

“We need professionals there, not a weaponized DNI,” Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune said of Pulte. Other powerful congressional Republicans, including Senators Cornyn, Cassidy, Murkowski, Collins, and Tillis, have also voiced opposition to or concerns about Pulte’s takeover of the ODNI.

Senate Democrats share many of the same concerns as their GOP counterparts.

Senators Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, Richard Blumenthal, Gary Peters, Adam Schiff, Mark Warner and Ron Wyden have expressed concern that Pulte will weaponize America’s intelligence apparatus against Trump’s enemies. Like many Republicans, they criticized him for his lack of intelligence experience.

William Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), during a press conference at the Federal Housing Finance Association (FHFA) headquarters in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Political observers believe Clayton will face much less Senate opposition to his confirmation. But the upper chamber has so far proven reluctant to move forward on the president’s voter identification legislation, making its progress difficult and setting the stage for a showdown between the White House and Congress.

While lawmakers and the president went back and forth over the fate of ODNI, Gabbard tried to highlight the Fauci documents on her way out.

The documents he released Thursday night include some information already known to the public, as well as information that appears not to have been made public.

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies regarding the Coronavirus Pandemic before the Select Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on June 3, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Gabbard’s statement includes new declassified documents showing that intelligence officials considered Fauci an outside reviewer of the origins of Covid-19, but ultimately rejected it, and warns that Fauci will be seen as having a conflict of interest.

In a separate exchange, intelligence officials tasked with analyzing the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic debated whether to heed Fauci’s recommendations on who to interview for their work.

“For those who don’t know me, I am [REDACTED] and therefore to lead [intelligence community’s] “90-day POTUS COVID origin study,” an official wrote in an email.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard speaks to reporters in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on July 23. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Another official questioned whether it was prudent to seek the advice of a “policymaker” like Fauci when conducting internal affairs for the intelligence community, “especially given the variety of strong views on the issue and statements of their own conclusions.”

An intelligence official responded by arguing that Fauci should be viewed in this context as a key expert on the subject, not a policymaker.

“In this particular case, given Dr. Fauci’s background, we certainly want to follow his outreach recommendations,” they wrote. “In this case he is not a policy maker….he is an SME with a wealth of knowledge of current and historical research and probably knows better than most who the real Coronavirus experts are.”

A CIA whistleblower had previously alleged that Fauci exerted undue influence on the intelligence community’s assessment of the origins of COVID-19, and claimed Gabbard was now trying to strengthen that position with her release.

During the COVID-19 era, conservatives have alleged that Fauci and other public health officials downplayed or helped distract scrutiny from the lab leak theory despite America’s financial ties to coronavirus research in Wuhan, where the disease emerged. Gabbard framed the trove of documents as a look at how the intelligence community is combining information from people like Fauci as it investigates the origins of the virus.

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“Fauci worked with politicized career leadership in the Intelligence Community (IC) to conceal the truth about his actions, the laboratory leak origins of the virus, and his role in directing U.S. funding for this dangerous research that caused immeasurable harm and countless casualties,” the ODNI said. Press release The attached documents claim. “These documents reveal Fauci’s direct role in influencing and manipulating the IC’s assessments of COVID-19 and how Fauci lied to Congress under oath in 2024 while denying knowledge of or participating in discussions with intelligence officials regarding viral research.”

According to Fox News Digital’s initial report, Gabbard left her position at ODNI to care for her husband, who has a rare form of cancer.