The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) gave six analysts financial rewards for changing their position on the lab leak coronavirus origin theory, according to whistleblower testimony released by House investigators.
The House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic wrote letters Tuesday to CIA Director William Burns and former CIA Chief Operating Officer Andrew Makridis outlining whistleblower testimony accusing the CIA of giving monetary incentives to six agents on its Covid Discovery Team to change their position on the lab leak hypothesis. According to the lawmakers, the whistleblower is a “multi-decade, senior-level, current Agency officer.” (RELATED: Fauci-Influenced Covid-19 Paper To ‘Disprove’ Lab Leak Theory Faces Growing Calls For Retraction)
🚨BREAKING🚨
New testimony from a highly credible whistleblower alleges @CIA rewarded six analysts with significant financial incentives to change their COVID-19 origins conclusion from a lab-leak to zoonosis. pic.twitter.com/KIemfi2Wgl
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic (@COVIDSelect) September 12, 2023
“According to the whistleblower, the Agency assigned seven officers to a COVID Discovery Team (Team). The Team consisted of multi-disciplinary and experienced officers with significant scientific expertise. According to the whistleblower, at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the Team believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China,” the letter to Burns reads.
“The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position,” the letter adds.
House investigators are requesting Burns turn over all documents and communications related to the Covid Team and the origins of the coronavirus, including its correspondence with relevant federal agencies and the team’s pay history. Burns has until Sept. 26, 2023 to respond to the subcommittee’s request. Likewise, the subcommittee is asking Makridis to participate in a transcribed interview on Sept. 26 because of the “central role” he played in forming the Covid Team.
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic published a report in July accusing former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci of orchestrating a campaign to discredit the lab leak theory at the beginning of the covid pandemic. Assessments from the FBI and Department of Energy have concluded covid most likely originated from a lab in Wuhan, China where coronaviruses were being researched.