The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, is taking legal action against the CIA, alleging that the agency failed to disclose records related to payments made to analysts for downplaying the lab leak theory of COVID-19’s origins.

According to the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, the CIA did not comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request concerning analysts who supposedly “received monetary incentives to change their position on the origins of the virus.” The lawsuit demands the CIA expedite the production of these records within 20 days or by a date deemed appropriate by the court.

Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel for the Oversight Project, criticized the Biden Administration’s lack of transparency regarding COVID-19’s origins. “A CIA whistleblower has made serious allegations that the agency bought off employees of the agency to further obstruct efforts to get to the truth of the virus’s origins. This obstruction cannot stand and we’re fighting in federal court to get to the bottom of this,” Brosnan said.

The whistleblower, a senior-level CIA agent, reportedly informed House Republican committee chairmen that the agency offered payments to six analysts for supporting the natural spillover theory over the lab leak hypothesis. This revelation was contained in a September 12 letter from Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Chairman Brad Wenstrup and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner to CIA Director William Burns.

The letter also demanded documentation and communications about these alleged payments. “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 House panel chairmen wrote.

The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project filed its FOIA request on September 20 but has not received the requested documents or an explanation for the delay. Allegations have also surfaced that Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was covertly involved in influencing the CIA analysts’ findings.

This lawsuit comes amid heightened scrutiny over the origins of COVID-19, with the FBI and the Energy Department recently concluding that the pandemic likely originated from a lab leak. The US intelligence community’s report highlighted biosafety concerns and genetic engineering at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, while a Government Accountability Office report disclosed that US taxpayers funded gain-of-function research at the lab.

Fauci is expected to testify before the House COVID subcommittee in January 2024. Meanwhile, former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has testified that the lab leak theory is the most credible explanation for the pandemic, backed by intelligence, science, and common sense.

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