Top 4 explosive moments from CIA whistleblower's testimony on alleged COVID-19 lab leak cover-up
CIA whistleblower James Erdman III testified that the Biden administration buried analysis concluding a lab leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in an explosive hearing on...
By Fox News · Fox News
CIA whistleblower James Erdman III testified that the Biden administration buried analysis concluding a lab leak was the most likely origin of the COVID-19 pandemic in an explosive hearing on Wednesday. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Erdman, a two-decade CIA veteran, chose to testify on the alleged cover-up at "great personal risk" because "government secrecy cannot become government impunity." Paul’s oversight panel had subpoenaed Erdman’s testimony and previously interviewed him in a classified setting. Erdman worked in a joint role with the Director of National Intelligence’s Director’s Initiatives Group (DIG) to investigate COVID origins over the past year. "According to his testimony, CIA scientific analysts concluded multiple times between 2021 and 2023 that a lab leak was the most likely origin of COVID-19," Paul said in his opening statement. "Yet those conclusions never shaped the official narrative, never made the intelligence report. Congress was never told." WHO IS JAMES ERDMAN III? CIA WHISTLEBLOWER WHO WENT FROM COVID MANDATE FIGHTS TO SENATE SPOTLIGHT "It was not until after the 2024 election that the outgoing Biden administration directed the CIA to issue an assessment, not because of new intelligence, but so officials could walk out of the door claiming there was nothing left to find," the Kentucky Republican added. "That is not analysis. That is a cleanup operation." Erdman publicly testified before the panel despite fierce opposition from the CIA, which called the COVID origins hearing "political theater." Paul’s committee, according to CIA spokeswoman Liz Lyons, "acted in bad faith by subpoenaing an agency officer for testimony today without notifying CIA, despite having already obtained closed-door testimony from the individual previously. "The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairm…