You could call it a storm on her last day in the job. Gabbard let go of declassified material with charges that Dr Anthony Fauci was the one who bankrolled work at Wuhan and had a say in how we understood where the pandemic came from. Now there are once again questions being asked if Congress was given the full story back in 2024.
Gabbard puts it down to a matter of accountability after all this time. Her office is on record saying these papers run counter to what Fauci put under oath and show you exactly how the intelligence on the virus was put together when it mattered most.
Why the last-day disclosure matters
The ODNI says this is the end of a long road of declassification. For Gabbard, it is about the public's right to see how the calls were made when the Wuhan virus was running through the world.
She is not mincing words about career types in the Intelligence Community putting a lid on what might have been a lab connection and keeping a president in the dark. If there is any truth to it, it will change the way we look at the decisions made in the heat of the crisis.
What the documents contain
We are talking about a mix of internal memos, some whistleblower stories and the like, per the DNI. The focus is on the money, the interagency talk and how the official line on the origin of COVID-19 was written.
As it stands, Fauci, then head of NIAID, gave the green light for research that had ties to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The files say he was in close contact with the people in the room for the assessments, ones that would put a fine spin on a natural origin and put a lab incident in the background.
Whistleblower accounts and internal pushback
There is also the matter of analysts who didn’t like the way things were going and got some heat for it. Whistleblowers tell of staff being put off from even looking into the lab-leak theory.
Then you have the 2024 hearing before the House Select Subcommittee. Gabbard’s side says the correspondence here doesn’t add up with what Fauci said. It shows he was in on the conversations about the virus and the pandemic.
Key allegations, as stated by ODNI
Gabbard and the ODNI boil it down to four things:
– You can trace millions in taxpayer cash to gain-of-function at the Wuhan lab
– The intelligence was bent to put a damper on the lab-leak idea
– In 2024, Fauci told Congress something he shouldn’t have
– A few analysts were made to pay for having a different view
Gabbard has no patience for what she sees as deep state manoeuvring. She is calling out leaders for covering their tracks, playing with the intelligence and making it hard for an elected President to do his job.
Context, denials and unresolved questions
None of this has been put to the test in a court of law or by an independent body. Fauci has always put up a defence for his actions in the emergency and says he never tried to hide anything.
But the ODNI is of the opinion that the bat coronavirus work in Wuhan is what you have to blame for the ‘unintentional’ leak. Not everyone in the scientific and intelligence world is on board with that.
And of course, there is the pre-emptive pardon from Joe Biden in January 2025. That is bound to be a talking point for any lawmaker thinking of holding him to account.
What comes next
Now that thousands of pages are out there, you can bet the lawmakers and the rest of them will be over them in the days ahead. It is only going to make the oversight and the science wars over the start of COVID-19 more of a thing.
Some in the community still think a lab accident is possible; for others, a natural origin is just as good. We don’t have a final word on it yet.
Gabbard’s view is that the pandemic was hard on people and they are owed the truth. With this, she is making sure the issue of how we were led during the crisis is brought up for another round of scrutiny.
