Biden’s Top Medical Advisor Funded Chinese Lab That Sparked COVID: Tulsi Gabbard

Last Updated:June 19, 2026, 11:54 IST

Outgoing Director of National Intelligence of the US, Tulsi Gabbard, alleged that Chief Medical Advisor to former President Biden funded research lab that leaked the COVID virus.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence (DNI), has accused the former Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci of having funded research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. She also accused him of colluding with ‘politicised’ intelligence officers to suppress this information.

Wuhan is where the COVID-19 virus, which caused a global pandemic in 2019-2020, is believed to have originated.

Gabbard has made these claims based on documents she declassified and released to the public on her last working day as the DNI.

She accused Fauci of having funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab, suppressing his actions in collusion with ‘politicised elements within the intelligence community,’ and lying to the United States Congress under oath. After the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged global systems, several people peddled an idea that the virus was leaked in the public from a lab in Wuhan.

Scientists, however, believed it likely originated in the city’s wet markets.

“It’s time you know the truth," Gabbard said in a tweet on X.

It is a type of research in which scientists genetically alter an organism to enhance its biological functions. Wikipedia says scientists could alter pathogenesis or even the host range in this type of research.

Pathogenesis is the way in which the disease develops within the host animal. It is crucial for researchers trying to understand how these ailments function and prevent or stop them.

Host range is the number of animals a microorganism can infect. Bats are believed to be the primary natural reservoir and evolutionary source of the sars-covid virus that upended world systems few years back.

Wuhan’s wet markets famously offer a wide variety of animal meat to buyers. At the time, it was believed that it was from one such market that the virus entered humans first.

What Has Gabbard Said

On her last day as the intelligence director for US, Gabbard said she is releasing so far unseen communications and documents that expose Fauci’s role in the alleged conspiracy that suggests COVID-19 originated in a lab in China. She said Fauci used US taxpayers’ money for this.

Fauci was the head of the National Institue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the US. In that role, he “provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV)—work which is now widely viewed as the source of the unintentional lab leak that sparked the pandemic," a press release on the website of the Office of Director of National Intelligence says.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US “supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases", its mission statement says.

“NIAID supports research at external academic and research institutions through funding opportunities including grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements," its official website states. It also says that the institute is “always accepting researcher-initiated applications".

It means that researchers and institutions across the world can ask for funding assistance if their research is on infectious diseases.

The press release from Gabbard’s department did not specify what was the exact content of research funded by the NIAID under Fauci’s leadership. Nor did it give details that make clear what was the communication that revealed Fauci tried to suppress his wrongdoing.

Towards the end the release says, “A contractor was terminated just days after coming forward to ODNI as a whistleblower."

“Managers reminded analysts who advocated for the lab-leak hypothesis that leadership would determine which analysts would be promoted," it further said.

Tulsi Gabbard had also contested to be the nominee of the Democratic Party for the Presidential race in 2020. She was not successful but through the campaign positioned herself in support of several conservative policies.

(With ANI inputs)

News world Biden’s Top Medical Advisor Funded Chinese Lab That Sparked COVID: Tulsi Gabbard

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