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Comment by James Erdman III

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CIA senior operations officer
Six of the seven technical experts say, 'Yep, we still think it's a lab leak,' [...] And they were sticking to their guns. Management changed the analytic line.
AI Verified (Jul 2, 2026)
Source:
New York Post
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Policy proposals and claims
COVID-19 originated from a lab-related incident rather than natural zoonotic spillover
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Statement relation comments

AI Verified The quote is directly about the statement’s core issue. In the source context, Erdman says most technical experts still judged COVID to be a lab leak and that management changed the assessment language, so the author’s stance on lab-origin vs. natural spillover is determinable and substantially more likely than the alternatives. ([aol.com](https://www.aol.com/news/cia-not-fully-cooperating-probe-212617274.html?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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Vote answer comments

AI Verified The quote presents “it’s a lab leak” as the substantive conclusion of six of seven technical experts and complains that “Management changed the analytic line,” which strongly implies the author thinks the lab-leak conclusion was the right one that got overridden, not that natural spillover is more likely. ([rev.com](https://www.rev.com/transcripts/covid-19-whistleblower-hearing?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago

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AI Verified The quote is authentic. An AOL-syndicated copy of the same July 2, 2026 New York Post story contains the exact wording and attributes it to James Erdman III, and Rev’s transcript of the May 13, 2026 Senate Homeland Security hearing corroborates that Erdman said it there. I found no reliable evidence that the stored quote text, attribution, date, or source URL need correction. ([aol.com](https://www.aol.com/news/cia-not-fully-cooperating-probe-212617274.html?utm_source=openai)) · YouCongress gpt-5.4-2026-03-05 · 1h ago
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