Consider three data points: sworn CIA testimony that Anthony Fauci deliberately shaped the intelligence community’s COVID origins assessment, a federal indictment of his senior NIAID adviser for conspiracy and destruction of records, and a presidential pardon signed via autopen at 10:31 p.m. on former President Joe Biden’s last night in office.

Why pardon someone if there’s nothing to hide? Ask that question, and everything that follows becomes explanation rather than conspiracy theory. They’re a cover story coming apart at the seams.