Tulsi Gabbard's Fauci Files Don't Prove What She Says They Prove

[Nevilledog]

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*

[chowder66]

1. Cult member said what?

[struggle4progress]

2. Russian stooge and general source of disinformation has been replaced

by other stooges and sources of disinformation

[Blue Owl]

3. Culti Gabbard needs to go back to the compound and have a nice tall glass of Kool Aid

[cachukis]

4. Agreed. Read some quite closely and came away

with innuendo. No verification.

[groundloop]

5. Meanwhile Putin is laughing his ass off.

[wnylib]

6. So that's where my MAGA neighbor got it from.

A couple days ago he told me that Fauci not only supported lab research, but actually did some research that created covid 19 as,a plot against Trump. It was so bizarre that I laughed out loud at him. I pointed out that Fauci is a doctor and not a lab researcher which requires different training, skills, and experience.

He had no response.

[Kid Berwyn]

7. Q-Anon meets Falun Gong

With an especially gross dose of Putin and Xi.

[Akakoji]

8. That fuct up religious cult she belongs to

told her to say that. The reason she's out is because Trump wanted to be her cult leader.Plus, she's a pathetic person lost in an ethical sewer.

[Grokenstein]

9. McCarthy's List all over again. History repeats, etc.

Senator Joseph McCarthy’s "list" refers to a fabricated piece of paper brandished during a February 1950 speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. He alleged it contained the names of "known communists" shaping policy in the U.S. State Department. The number of names he claimed to have constantly changed—from 205, to 57, to 81—and he never provided any legitimate evidence to the public or to the Senate.

[yellow dahlia]

10. And on RWmedia (especiallynotnewsmax) they spew this stuff,

to rile people up.