Tulsi Gabbard's Fauci Files Don't Prove What She Says They Prove [View all]

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/tulsi-gabbard-s-fauci-files-don-t-prove-what-she-says-they-prove

In her final act as director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard released a collection of declassified documents about COVID-19’s origins and Dr. Anthony Fauci. The headline claim was explosive: “Fauci Funded Wuhan Lab Research That Sparked COVID.” Her press release and accompanying five-minute long video monologue went further, accusing Fauci of manipulating intelligence assessments and lying to Congress.

But the documents don’t show anything of the sort.

The origins of COVID-19 remain uncertain. A lab-associated incident is plausible; so is natural spillover. China’s obstruction has made the truth harder to establish, and scientific opinions vary. There are legitimate questions to ask, in general, about biosafety and U.S.-funded research abroad. But Gabbard isn’t asking those questions. Her press release implies that the debate is over—that the definitive answer is a lab leak—and then uses the assumed conclusion as the foundation for a far more sweeping allegation: that Fauci “sparked COVID” and covered it up.

Gabbard’s “Fauci Files" follow the same playbook as her past document drops: Put the desired conclusion in the headline. Use “declassification” as a credibility signal. Present a large, mixed dump of documents as if they were a prosecutor’s exhibit. Convert ordinary government processes—expert consultation, grant oversight, whistleblower routing, intelligence disagreement—into evidence of conspiracy. Then push the accusation on social media, where few people will read the underlying documents closely enough to notice the gulf between the documents and the claims.

Gabbard played this game of innuendo and accusation with her so-called “Russiagate” declassifications, accusing President Barack Obama of a "treasonous conspiracy” and “coup” (he has yet to be charged). A few weeks ago she followed the playbook with a document dump on biolabs, reframing biological threat reduction work, much of which was already public, as nefarious. In each case, the underlying materials contain some facts, but they are often decontextualized, and the framing asks readers to take a much larger conspiratorial leap.

*snip*