This morning, Paul’s Senate hearing aimed to accomplish precisely that, as stated in a press release from Feds For Freedom, by “exposing the CIA’s deliberate suppression of the COVID-19 lab leak origin and the ongoing weaponization of the intelligence community against the American public.”

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‘Repeatedly, Paul said, documents reveal Fauci’s involvement in national security discussions that extended well beyond typical public health communication. During the COVID crisis, intelligence officials arranged for Dr. Fauci to review highly classified intelligence assessments that were restricted from being shared outside the White House compound.

“But how can Anthony Fauci objectively comment on a discussion of COVID origins when he approved the very funding that may have caused the pandemic virus?” Paul asked. “From the outset of the pandemic, Dr. Fauci shaped the conclusions. Dozens of times, he referred to the idea that the pandemic originating in the lab was a conspiracy.”

Paul said that Fauci held “the now infamous” call on February 1, 2020. During that call, some scientists privately expressed serious doubts about a laboratory origin.’

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“When Congress asked these questions,” he said, “the government officials lied to our face. They classified the documents. They suppressed the information. They changed the definitions.” He also observed that, in 2023, there was a desire for Congress to be informed. During that year, John Ratcliffe, the former Director of National Intelligence, gave testimony before Congress, issuing a strong warning that a lab leak was the only explanation that had credible support from “intelligence, science, and common sense.” According to his testimony, CIA scientific analysts determined on several occasions between 2021 and 2023 that a laboratory leak was the most probable source of COVID-19.

After pledging to tell the truth to the committee, Erdman stated that he was in charge of the National Intelligence Director’s Initiatives Group, known as the DIG, from March 2025 until April 2026. “I was responsible for leading the DIG’s investigation into COVID origins, anomalous health incidents, and unidentified anomalous phenomena,” he shared.

According to him, “Intelligence community (IC) leaders and senior analysts downplayed the possibility that the COVID pandemic originated as a result of a lab incident.” Erdman admitted, “Motives are difficult to define given the scope of the DIG’s review,” but added, “Intentional or not, the IC’s actions resulted in a cover-up, wasted resources, and a failure to properly inform policymakers.”

He argued, “Public health policy would have been very different had the American public been made aware that a virus from a lab in China was going to serve as the foundation for emergency use authorization mRNA products being mandated by the former administration.”

“Dr. Fauci’s role in the coverup was intentional,” Erdman disclosed. “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.”

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‘Erdman went on to say that some of the scientists belonged to the Biological Sciences Experts Group, commonly known as BSEG—an office within the Director National Intelligence Advisory Body, where members frequently obtain significant funding from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and various public health organizations.

“The BSEG scientists influenced national laboratory WMD research, policy decisions, finished analysis, and other intelligence matters, creating misaligned incentives and conflicts of interest, as well as counterintelligence issues,” he disclosed.’

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