The Heritage Foundation filed a lawsuit Friday against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after it did not comply with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The Foundation’s Oversight Project requested records connected to the CIA’s team tasked with investigating the Wuhan lab leak theory. The complaint reads:

“This is an action under the Freedom of Information Act (‘FOIA’), 5 U.S.C. § 552, to compel production of CIA records relating to allegations that members of the CIA’s COVID Discovery Team, a group of employees tasked with analyzing the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, received monetary incentives to change their position on the origins of the virus.”

The lawsuit is taking place in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and asks the court to compel the CIA to produce all non-exempt records under Heritage’s prior FOIA request and to cover Heritage’s costs incurred.

The Daily Caller News Foundation recounts the timeline:

In September, a whistleblower came forward to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic alleging the CIA provided financial rewards to six agents on the COVID discovery team to change their position and come out against the possibility of the virus originating in a lab in Wuhan, China.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin wrote a letter on Sept. 12 to CIA Director William Burns requesting information on the whistleblower allegations.
Assessments from the FBI and Department of Energy have concluded that COVID-19 most likely came from a lab in Wuhan where bat coronaviruses were being researched.

The COVID subcommittee published a report in July accusing former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci of facilitating a campaign to cast doubt on the lab leak theory.

New evidence released in March by the subcommittee indicates Fauci was behind an influential paper designed to discredit lab leak proponents. The CIA also brought Fauci into its headquarters to “influence” its lab leak investigation without keeping records of Fauci’s entry, the subcommittee alleged in September.

Fauci is set to testify before the committee in January over a two-day period.