Two Republican House committee chairmen, Rep. Brad Wenstrup, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Rep. Mike Turner, Chairman on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, have sent a letter to the Director of the CIA, seeking answers regarding allegations made by a whistleblower described as a “multi-decade, senior-level, current [CIA] officer.” According to the lawmakers, this whistleblower, who they consider to be “seemingly credible,” has accused a majority of the CIA’s ‘COVID Discovery Team’ of believing that the available evidence pointed to a lab leak as the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this assessment was reportedly changed under questionable circumstances.
The whistleblower alleges that six out of seven members of the team believed there was enough intelligence and scientific evidence to make a low-confidence assessment that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. The lone dissenting member, who happened to be the most senior, believed in the zoonotic origin theory. According to the whistleblower, the other six members were incentivized with significant monetary rewards to change their positions, leading to the CIA’s eventual public determination of uncertainty.
If these allegations are true, it would constitute a significant scandal, as CIA officials would have effectively been bribed to alter their views on a matter of critical global importance. The lawmakers have called for transparency and are demanding documents and communications related to the COVID Discovery Teams, their discussions on the origins of COVID-19, interactions with other government agencies, and any financial incentives provided to team members.
The CIA Director has been warned that if the necessary information is not provided voluntarily, the committees have the authority to issue subpoenas. Additionally, the former CIA Chief Operating Officer, who played a central role in forming and concluding the CIA’s inability to determine the pandemic’s origins, has been requested to participate in a voluntary interview before the committee.
The explosive claims by this whistleblower, if substantiated, would raise serious concerns about the actions of the COVID Discovery Team and the CIA as a whole. Questions remain about the credibility of the whistleblower’s allegations and whether concrete evidence supports these claims. Given the recent controversies surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci’s handling of COVID-19 information, many are understandably curious and cautious about the veracity of such allegations.