Government watchdog sues CIA for records of Fauci communications on COVID-19 origins

Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog group, has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency, seeking records concerning Dr. Anthony Fauci's communications with the intelligence community about the origins of COVID-19. 

The request also seeks communications regarding gain-of-function research, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and the selection of scientific experts consulted during the government’s COVID-19 origins investigations in apparent connection to Faui's role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the CIA failed to respond to a similar request in May. 

The request was a follow-up to testimony from CIA Senior Operations Officer James E. Erdman III before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. 

In the testimony, Erdman alleged that Fauci influenced the intelligence community's analytic process and COVID-19 origin’s findings by leveraging his position to ensure the community consulted with a conflicted list of curated subject-matter experts, public health officials and scientists.