CIA whistleblower claims agency offered hush money in COVID-19 investigation
'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.'
In startling revelations, an anonymous senior-level official from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) claimed that six investigators believed COVID-19 likely stemmed from a Wuhan laboratory. However, after reaching this conclusion, the CIA is accused of bribing these experts to shift their narrative, according to information disclosed to Congress.
The U.S. House lawmakers from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence brought these allegations to the forefront. Reps. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) and Mike Turner (R-OH) outlined, “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.”
This narrative shifts dramatically when one learns about the alleged incentives. The whistleblower insists that following their conclusion, financial inducements were given to the six experts, with the intent of changing their findings. Intriguingly, the seventh member, the most senior of the team, was the only one to believe the virus originated naturally.
The lawmakers have now sought the participation of former CIA chief operating officer Andrew Makridis in a “voluntary transcribed interview” slated for September 26, 2023. Makridis, who retired in 2022, is believed to have a pivotal role in the entire investigation.
The Daily Wire reported:
Lawmakers also set a deadline on the same day for the CIA to turn over all records regarding the establishment of the COVID Discovery Teams, pay history that includes the awarding of any financial or performance-based incentive/financial bonuses, and all communications from those teams with all members of federal government agencies, including the FBI, State Department, Health and Human Services, Energy Department.
The Department of Energy and the FBI were among the first federal agencies earlier this year to assess with moderate confidence that the pandemic’s origins were most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence declassified a long-awaited report in June about potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of COVID. The report found that three lab workers who became ill in 2019 could not be directly linked the source of the pandemic as their symptoms were “consistent with but not diagnostic of COVID-19.”
It’s notable that the FBI and the Department of Energy earlier echoed the possibility of the pandemic originating from a lab incident in Wuhan. On the other hand, a report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in June was inconclusive about any direct links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the pandemic’s origins.
Former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, however, argued that a lab leak remains the most plausible explanation, backed by substantial intelligence and sheer common sense.
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