On her last day as US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard released a set of declassified documents that accuse Dr Anthony Fauci, the former top US infectious-disease official, of directing millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to gain-of-function coronavirus research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology and of subsequently working with intelligence officials to suppress the laboratory-leak theory of COVID-19’s origin. The release, which Gabbard’s office said was the product of a year-long declassification review, includes internal communications and whistleblower testimonies alleging that intelligence analysts who challenged the natural-origin narrative faced retaliation and career setbacks. The move came as Gabbard stepped down and the White House installed Bill Pulte, a housing regulator with no prior intelligence experience, as acting director, while President Donald Trump blocked his permanent nominee from testifying in the Senate.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the documents show that Fauci, while leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, oversaw funding for research now “widely viewed as the source of the unintentional lab leak that sparked the pandemic.” The ODNI further alleged that Fauci and senior intelligence officials created a “self-serving circular reporting loop” in which agency-funded scientists shaped assessments that were later cited publicly to dismiss the lab-leak hypothesis. Fauci has previously described such accusations as “preposterous,” and former President Joe Biden granted him a pre-emptive pardon in January 2025, stating it should not be interpreted as an admission of wrongdoing. Viewed from Capitol Hill, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee warned that the declassification drive risked being used to justify broader administration efforts to tighten federal control over elections, while some Republican lawmakers have pressed for further investigations into the pandemic’s origins.

The leadership vacuum at ODNI has amplified concerns in Washington over the agency’s direction. Pulte, who arrived at ODNI a day before formally assuming the role, has requested a full employee list and is considering eliminating hundreds of positions, according to officials familiar with the matter. The agency had already reduced its workforce by roughly 40 per cent under Gabbard. Trump’s decision to cancel the Senate confirmation hearing for his permanent nominee, Jay Clayton, was publicly tied to demands that Congress first confirm a US Attorney and pass stricter voter-identification legislation. The manoeuvre disrupted a fragile bipartisan agreement on renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, leaving the programme’s future uncertain. Meanwhile, a separate ODNI report on vulnerabilities in US voting machines—which concludes that software updates could improve security but does not find evidence of vote manipulation—has been withheld, with some White House officials arguing its release could undermine voter confidence and others contending it does not go far enough to support the president’s claims of a rigged 2020 election, which were rejected by multiple courts and state election officials.

The confluence of these moves has reinforced a perception among European and Asian diplomatic observers that the US intelligence community is being reshaped to serve domestic political narratives. The voting-machine study, commissioned after Trump’s February 2025 executive order seeking greater federal authority over elections, remains unpublished, and it is unclear whether Pulte will release it or pursue further election-fraud investigations. The Senate Intelligence Committee has postponed Clayton’s hearing indefinitely, and lawmakers from both parties have expressed reservations about Pulte’s interim tenure, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune stating that the agency needs “professionals, not a weaponized DNI.” The next steps are expected to include further staff reductions at ODNI and a possible renewed push to declassify additional materials on both the pandemic’s origins and election security, as the administration continues to test the boundaries of executive control over intelligence and electoral processes.