Terry Moran says his 2021 “Nightline” report was substantially altered after a copy of the script was allegedly sent to Dr. Anthony Fauci, leaving him “absolutely livid.”

Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran is accusing his former employer of significantly changing a report he produced about the origins of COVID-19 after the network allegedly provided a copy of the script to Dr. Anthony Fauci for review.

During an interview released Friday on The Fifth Column podcast, Moran described the episode as an example of what he viewed at the time as the “heavy hand of censorship” within the Disney-owned network.

Moran said that in early 2021, he noticed “smart and serious” discussions online about the possibility that COVID-19 had originated through a laboratory leak. According to Moran, ABC’s Nightline subsequently gave him an opportunity to investigate the theory.

As part of his reporting, Moran said he interviewed scientists as well as officials from the Trump administration. He emphasized that his report did not reach a definitive conclusion about COVID’s origins but instead presented the competing evidence and arguments.

Moran said his reporting included information about funding connected to the laboratory in Wuhan. He recalled that his team reported that the facility had received funding from the Chinese military, despite statements from Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli, sometimes referred to as the “Bat Lady,” denying that connection.

“We broke a little news that that lab had been funded by the Chinese military, despite the ‘Bat Lady’ [Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli] saying no, it hadn’t… And we kind of laid it out,” Moran said. “And at the end of the day, my own personal feeling was, you know, it’s probably a little bit more likely it’s natural. But if you told me it had leaked from the lab, fine. It’s probably not cooked up. It’s probably not a ‘Frankenvirus.’”

Moran said the situation changed dramatically on the day the segment was scheduled to broadcast. After the report went through the review process, he said the version returned to him was so heavily modified that he found it difficult to understand.

“And the day that it’s supposed to air, it gets reviewed, and it comes back to me, and it is incomprehensible,” Moran continued. “And I had never been angrier. I’m in the booth–”

Podcast co-host Michael Moynihan asked Moran whether lawyers were responsible for reviewing the report.

“Are these lawyers?” podcast co-host Michael Moynihan asked.

“Lawyers, standards and, I was told, Fauci,” Moran responded. “And I said, ‘I can’t do this.’ And they’re going to air and it’s a 15-minute piece or whatever. And I’m cursing and screaming in the booth.”

Moran said the changes were made on the very day the segment was scheduled to air, intensifying his frustration with the editorial process.

“And this is day of?” co-host Matt Welch followed.

“Day of air,” Moran said. “And I am just absolutely livid, beside myself. And I’m usually — I try to be a good colleague that way. It’s important to be respectful of somebody on the other end of that mic taking it in in New York and the editor… I have never watched that story and never want to, because it wasn’t mine, I didn’t think, and most importantly because it was incomprehensible. They had put so many caveats in there, and it was so legalized.”

Moran was then asked whether ABC had provided Fauci with the report before it was broadcast.

“So they took the story that you did and either sent a copy of the transcript or a copy of the video to Anthony Fauci?” Moynihan then asked.

Moran said he understood that the script, rather than the completed video, had been provided, although he acknowledged that he could not personally verify that account.

“It would’ve been the script, that’s what I was told. I don’t know if that’s true personally, but I was told that,” Moran answered.

The two-part Nightline report ultimately aired in June 2021 and examined competing arguments concerning the origins of COVID-19. Moran interviewed Jamie Metzl, a former member of the World Health Organization’s committee on human genome editing who had publicly raised questions about a potential laboratory leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

However, Metzl was one of several experts featured in the report, and other medical specialists interviewed by Moran rejected the laboratory-leak explanation. ABC News medical unit producer Sony Salzman and investigative reporter Sasha Pezenik also appeared in the segment and expressed skepticism toward the theory.

Moran, who left ABC News in 2025, has also pushed back against what he considers excessive criticism of Fauci. Although he described his experience with the report as deeply frustrating, Moran said the “demonization” of Fauci was inappropriate and characterized him as a public servant who was trying to do his best.

Neither Moran, Fauci nor ABC News responded to requests for comment regarding Moran’s allegations. An inquiry was also sent to the White House.

Fauci has returned to the center of public attention following the release of diary material by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. The material has drawn renewed scrutiny to Fauci’s private reflections about the pandemic and how they compared with statements and guidance he issued publicly.

The diary material also highlighted Fauci’s relationships with several prominent media personalities, including CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

Earlier this month, Senate Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during a hearing the previous month. Fauci accused Paul of pursuing a campaign to have him imprisoned, while a criminal referral was subsequently sent to the Department of Justice.

The debate over COVID-19’s origins has continued to evolve since the early months of the pandemic. Several U.S. government agencies, including the CIA, FBI and Department of Energy, have in recent years assessed a laboratory-related origin as the most likely explanation. At the same time, numerous scientists continue to support a natural-origin explanation, leaving the question unresolved and subject to ongoing debate.