Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has released newly declassified documents alleging that Dr. Anthony Fauci helped direct millions of U.S. taxpayer dollars toward coronavirus research connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The documents, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, revive one of the most politically charged debates surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic: whether U.S.-funded research in China played a role in the virus’s origins.
Gabbard claimed the records show Fauci, as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, supported research on bat coronaviruses that was later linked to the Wuhan lab. She also accused Fauci and other officials of helping suppress discussion of the lab-leak theory during the early stages of the pandemic.
The ODNI statement said the documents expose how Fauci allegedly worked with intelligence community officials to downplay his role in funding the research and influence how COVID origins were assessed.
The allegations are explosive, but they remain politically disputed. U.S. agencies have not always agreed on the origins of COVID-19, and the debate between a natural spillover theory and a lab-related origin has continued for years.
Critics of Fauci argue that federal funding connected to EcoHealth Alliance helped support risky coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. They also say Fauci misled Congress when he denied that the National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
Fauci has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has defended his public health record. His supporters argue that the attacks against him are politically motivated and that no public evidence has conclusively proven he caused, covered up or personally directed the creation of COVID-19.
The controversy grew after earlier government reviews found problems with oversight of research grants involving EcoHealth Alliance. NIH officials previously said a grantee failed to properly report certain Wuhan experiments, increasing calls for tighter oversight of foreign biological research.
Gabbard’s release also comes after her office disclosed information about more than 120 foreign biological laboratories that received U.S. support. The Trump administration has used those disclosures to push for stronger restrictions on gain-of-function research and overseas lab funding.
The new documents are likely to intensify pressure on Congress and federal agencies to investigate pandemic-era decisions, scientific funding and intelligence assessments.
For now, the key issue is whether the documents prove direct wrongdoing by Fauci or simply add new evidence to a long-running dispute over research oversight, intelligence transparency and COVID origins.
