Gabbard’s Final Act: Declassified Documents Implicate Fauci in COVID-19 Origins Debate
On her last day as Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard released a trove of documents that she claims prove Dr. Anthony Fauci influenced intelligence community assessments on the origins of COVID-19 and lied under oath to Congress.
A Farewell with Political Explosiveness
On June 19, 2026 โ Gabbard’s final working day as head of U.S. intelligence โ the outgoing Director of National Intelligence released hundreds of pages of previously unpublished communications and internal documents. The release followed a year-long review under President Trump’s “Maximum Transparency” executive order.
In a video statement accompanying the release, Gabbard accused Fauci of using his relationships within the intelligence community to shield himself from scrutiny and to influence the government’s assessments of the pandemic’s origins.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense suffering and pain to millions of our fellow Americans and countless people around the world,” Gabbard said in her statement. “After years of lies, censorship, and cover-ups, the American people deserve transparency, truth, and accountability.”
The Core Allegations Against Fauci
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) , the released documents allegedly demonstrate the following:
- Influence on Intelligence Assessments: Fauci participated in discussions regarding the intelligence community’s review of COVID-19 origins during his tenure as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) . He provided recommendations on which experts to consult and helped shape assessments that were later presented as scientific consensus.
- Cover-up of Contacts: An August 2021 email from the Intelligence Community Inspector General cites a whistleblower complaint alleging that Fauci made “false statements before Congress.” Fauci had testified in his 2024 appearance before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic that he had no knowledge of discussions with intelligence agencies regarding virus research. However, the newly released documents show multiple interactions between Fauci and intelligence officials.
- Funding of Research at the Wuhan Institute: The ODNI alleges that Fauci oversaw the funding of coronavirus research involving bat viruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. This research allegedly involved “gain-of-function” studies and is linked to a possible laboratory accident.
- Suppression of Dissenting Views: The documents purportedly show that Fauci collaborated with politicized career officials within the intelligence community to suppress the truth about the lab origins of the virus. Gabbard further claimed that intelligence officials suppressed dissenting voices, including those who supported the lab-leak hypothesis.
The Contents of the Release
The publication includes:
ยท Internal communications among intelligence officials
ยท Whistleblower statements from employees who alleged retaliation for questioning official assessments
ยท Intelligence materials related to debates over the pandemic’s origins
Particularly explosive: A July 2021 internal email shows that intelligence officials considered Fauci a “SME” (Subject Matter Expert) “who likely knows better than most who the true coronavirus experts are.” Officials wanted to take his recommendations into account when contacting scientists during the Biden administration’s 90-day review in 2021.
An assessment report from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory dated May 2020 concluded that conditions in Wuhan were conducive to the “accidental release of a laboratory-modified coronavirus.”
At the same time, the documents also contain indications that intelligence officials rejected Fauci as an external reviewer of their COVID-19 origins assessment โ on the grounds that he had a conflict of interest.
Reactions and Context
The release came amid a power struggle over Gabbard’s succession. President Trump had appointed Bill Pulte as acting director, drawing criticism from both parties in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned: “We don’t need a weapon called the DNI; we need professionals there.”
Critics, however, pointed out that the released documents do not provide definitive evidence for the alleged connections. The U.S. intelligence community has still not reached a definitive conclusion on whether the virus originated from a laboratory or through natural transmission. The documents have not been independently verified.
Fauci himself has repeatedly denied the allegations, calling them “ridiculous” during a June 2024 hearing. He emphasized that both a natural origin and a laboratory accident are possible explanations for the emergence of the virus, with available evidence in his view pointing more toward natural transmission โ though not definitively.
Conclusion
The document release of June 19, 2026, marks one of the final and most controversial acts of Tulsi Gabbard’s tenure as Director of National Intelligence. While supporters welcome the publication as a long-overdue step toward greater transparency, critics see it as a politically motivated attempt to reignite the debate over the pandemic’s origins just before Gabbard’s departure.
What is certain: The question of COVID-19’s origins and the role of the U.S. government in pandemic response remains politically and scientifically contentious โ and the newly released documents are likely to fuel this debate for a long time to come.
The original declassified documents are available on the official ODNI website at http://www.odni.gov/index.php/newsroom/reports-publications/reports-publications-2026/4165-fauci-funded-wuhan-lab-research-that-sparked-covid.
๐ Bernd Pulch | Uncensored Investigative Intelligence since 1994 
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