A decorated CIA officer testified before the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci deliberately shaped and influenced the intelligence community’s investigation into COVID-19’s origins, steering analysts away from the lab leak theory and toward a preferred conclusion of natural origin. According to testimony delivered under oath, the process was compromised from the beginning through carefully selected experts, institutional pressure, and a network of researchers tied financially and professionally to the same agencies involved in the controversy itself.
James Erdman III, a 13-year CIA veteran and special operations officer, appeared publicly before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed. Erdman testified despite reported efforts inside the agency to prevent his appearance. The hearing, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), featured no participation from Democratic members of the committee, who did not attend the public proceedings.
“Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional,” Erdman testified. “Dr. Fauci influenced the analytical process and findings by leveraging his position to ensure the IC consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials and scientists.”
At the center of the testimony was the now-infamous 2020 “Proximal Origin” paper, which was widely cited during the pandemic to dismiss the possibility that COVID-19 emerged from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. According to evidence discussed during the hearing, several authors initially believed a lab leak was plausible before changing their positions following discussions with Fauci and NIH leadership. One of those researchers later received a multimillion-dollar grant from Fauci’s agency.
Erdman testified that CIA analysts repeatedly concluded between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak represented the most likely origin of the virus, but those findings were altered or suppressed before reaching Congress or the public. He rejected claims of direct bribery but described institutional pressure that changed the agency’s final analytical posture.
“Six of the seven technical experts say, ‘Yep, we still think it’s a lab leak,’” Erdman said. “And they were sticking to their guns. Management changed the analytic line.”
The hearing also focused on broader conflicts of interest surrounding the investigation. Fauci’s agency funded gain-of-function coronavirus research connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Researchers tied to that work later participated in advisory roles connected to the government’s origins investigation. Ralph Baric, who collaborated with Wuhan virologist Dr. Zhengli Shi on coronavirus experiments, served on an intelligence advisory panel examining COVID’s origins. Peter Daszak, whose EcoHealth Alliance received substantial U.S. funding and worked directly with Wuhan researchers, later participated in the World Health Organization’s investigation into the outbreak.
Critics at the hearing argued that the same scientific and institutional network involved in funding or conducting the research was later placed in positions to evaluate whether that research caused the pandemic.
Sen. Rand Paul accused the outgoing Biden administration of ordering a formal CIA assessment after the 2024 election not because of new evidence, but to close the matter before leaving office.
“That is not analysis,” Paul said. “That is a cleanup operation.”
The CIA responded by criticizing the hearing itself, describing it as “dishonest political theater” and emphasizing that Erdman appeared under subpoena. However, the agency’s own public statement acknowledged that the CIA now assesses COVID-19 “most likely originated from a lab leak,” a line Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) highlighted during the proceedings.
Erdman further testified that the CIA is withholding up to 2,000 pages of classified material related to COVID origins despite a 2023 law requiring disclosure. He also alleged that whistleblowers involved in internal reviews were surveilled by the agency while conducting their work.