This article originally appeared on theDaily Caller News Foundationand was republished with permission.

Two intelligence community officials confirmed to the Daily Caller that CIA officials took documents from the JFK and MKUltra files that were being reviewed by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for declassification.

A CIA whistleblower testified to the Senate Homeland Security committee on Wednesday that the agency “took back 40 boxes of JFK and MKUltra files” and “illegally monitored the computer and phone usage” ofGabbard’s investigators looking into an alleged cover-up of the origins of Covid-19. Notably, MKUltra was an illegal CIA experiment program that used drugs and psychological torture to develop mind control and interrogation techniques.

NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich reported that “people from the CIA took documents (related to the JFK assassination/MKUltra) from the National Reconnaissance Office *last year* in the middle of the night during the government shutdown and have not returned/is withholding them from ODNI.”

Prior to James Erdmann III’s testimony,CIAspokesperson Liz Lyons claimed the Committee was acting in “bad faith” by not notifying the CIA that he would be testifying.

“The witness testifying today is not appearing as a whistleblower in pursuit of the truth, but instead in response to the subpoena issued by Chairman Paul,” Lyonssaid.

“This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing. As the CIA has already assessed, COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak, and efforts to undermine that conclusion are disingenuous,” Lyons added.

Former CIA officer John Kiriakouexplainedto Fox News’ Jesse Watters during a Wednesday night interview that the CIA does not have authority over the DNI or the president.

“The CIA cannot overrule the president, and the CIA cannot even overrule the director of national intelligence,” Kiriakou stated. “They are mandated to be declassified. The American people have a right to know what is in these files.”

“Real life isn’t supposed to work this way. This is crazy,” Kiriakou said.

Source: The Vigilant Fox