GOP probes whistleblower claim that CIA paid investigators to dismiss lab leak theory
Gabrielle M. Etzel
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Republicans in Congress are investigating a claim from a high-ranking CIA officer that leadership at the agency offered monetary incentives to investigators to dismiss the lab leak theory of origin for the coronavirus.
The whistleblower alleges that six of the seven-member CIA COVID Discovery Team tasked with investigating the origins of the virus at the Wuhan Institute of Virology initially concluded that the virus originated in the lab, but they were given financial incentives to change their position to a zoonotic origin hypothesis.
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House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) co-wrote letters on the whistleblower testimony to CIA Director Bill Burns and former CIA Chief Operating Officer Andrew Makridis — the third-ranking member in the agency who retired in 2022.
They say that the whistleblower is a “multi-decade, senior-level current Agency officer” and the information under review comes from “a seemingly reliable source.”
A spokesperson for the Democrats on the Coronavirus Subcommittee told the Washington Examiner that they were not privy to the information from the whistleblower.
“Select Subcommittee Democrats were given no prior notice of a whistleblower’s existence, let alone testimony. Without further information regarding this claim from the Majority, we have no ability to assess the allegations at this time,” said the spokesperson.
In June, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a long-awaited report that stated the CIA and “another agency remain unable to determine the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, as both hypotheses rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reporting.”
The report also said that the Department of Energy and the Federal Bureau of Investigation assessed that a lab-based incident was the most likely cause of the first human COVID-19 infection.
Wenstrup and Turner are requesting voluntary transcribed interviews with both Burns and Makridis by Sept. 26 as well as all payment history, including performance-based bonuses, for COVID Discovery Team members.
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The committees are also requesting all communications within the agency regarding all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team, as well as communications about the project between the CIA, FBI, DOE, and other federal departments or agencies.
The Washington Examiner contacted the CIA and the Democratic members the Intelligence Committee for comment.