CIA Allegedly Illegally Spied on White House COVID Origins Investigators, Whistleblower Tells Congress

The former head of the Trump administration’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19 told Congress today that the CIA actively obstructed his work by withholding records, retaliating against agency personnel who cooperated with the probe, and surveilling investigators’ computer and phone usage, as well as their contacts with whistleblowers.

"These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the director of National Intelligence," said James Erdman III, a current CIA officer who led the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) investigation into COVID-19’s origins. Erdman testified before the Senate’s Homeland Security Committee.

Erdman further alleged that the CIA suppressed its own analysts’ assessments that COVID-19 likely originated from a lab leak and retaliated against them for maintaining that conclusion.

In January 2025, the CIA—now led by Trump-appointed Director John Ratcliffe—publicly acknowledged that it assessed a lab leak as the most probable origin of COVID-19. Previously, the agency had not taken a definitive stance on the matter.

Under the Biden administration, ODNI released two unclassified summaries of the intelligence community’s assessment of the pandemic’s origins. Both summaries indicated that four agencies viewed a natural origin as most likely, while one agency assessed a lab leak as more probable. Three agencies could not determine whether a lab leak or natural origin was more likely.

In his testimony, Erdman attributed the intelligence community’s initial reluctance to endorse a lab leak theory to the influence of former COVID-19 adviser Anthony Fauci. Erdman claimed Fauci curated lists of scientists for agencies to consult—scientists who specialized in gain-of-function research that plausibly contributed to the creation of COVID-19 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and were therefore not neutral observers.

In 2023, Congress unanimously passed legislation requiring ODNI to release the intelligence community’s findings on COVID-19’s origins. In response, the Biden administration released a nine-page, partially redacted summary of already public intelligence.

Erdman testified that, under the leadership of new ODNI Director Tulsi Gabbard, the agency is working to declassify approximately 2,000 documents related to COVID-19’s origins. However, he stated that this process has been delayed due to the CIA and State Department refusing to provide requested documents. Erdman also noted that the CIA fired a contractor one day after the contractor spoke with ODNI investigators.

"The deep state still resists this congressional mandate" to release documents on COVID-19’s origins, said Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.), who chairs the Homeland Security Committee, during the hearing. Paul has long argued that a lab leak origin of COVID-19 is probable and has introduced legislation to subject gain-of-function research proposals to stricter risk-benefit vetting by an independent panel.

The Trump administration issued an executive order last year calling for a policy effectively banning gain-of-function research by September 2025. As of today, no such policy has been published.

During the hearing, Erdman also addressed ongoing resistance to oversight by intelligence agencies and the broader implications of these alleged actions on public trust in government investigations.