12 JUN 26 SITREP

• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released new evidence today confirming U.S. government funding of more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including labs in Ukraine that the intelligence community previously warned housed dangerous pathogens and remained vulnerable to Russian attack, seizure, or damage.
• Gabbard stated that evidence regarding the full existence and funding of these laboratories had been knowingly withheld from the American public, and that many of the labs engaged in research using hazardous and highly contagious pathogens, in some cases including gain-of-function research with little visibility or oversight.
• President Trump signed an executive order on May 25, 2025, ending federal funding of gain-of-function research around the world, and ODNI issued new guidance to the intelligence community directing increased collection on overseas laboratories and facilities, with results already revealing clinical trials raising ethical, financial, and security concerns.
• Gabbard identified politicians and figures including Dr. Fauci, as well as entities within the Biden administration's national security team, as having repeatedly lied to the American people about the existence of U.S.-funded biolabs; former Biden administration official Victoria Nuland had previously acknowledged "research facilities" during a Senate hearing when questioned by then-Senator Marco Rubio.

• 30-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht is on trial in Los Angeles for allegedly setting the Pacific Palisades fire, which killed 12 people, destroyed federal property, and caused billions of dollars in damage; he is charged with one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of setting tinder ablaze.
• Investigators determined the ignition was incendiary and intentional, with Rinderknecht's phone the only one pinging at the fire's origin point; while on a call to 911, he typed into ChatGPT asking whether a person is at fault if a fire starts because of their cigarettes, and he had previously used ChatGPT to generate an image of a burning forest with crowds fleeing while wealthy people watched.
• Rinderknecht was described by Uber passengers as angry, ranting about Luigi Mangione, capitalism, and vigilantism, and told investigators that someone might commit arson in the Pacific Palisades "out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money"; he had searched Google for phrases including "free Luigi Mangione," "let's take down all the billionaires," and "let's kill all the billionaires."
• Prosecutors are holding Rinderknecht accountable only for the first portion of the fire, not the second larger fire exacerbated after the Karen Bass administration failed to fully extinguish the initial blaze.

• A Utah court held an evidentiary hearing today in the Tyler Robinson murder case, where Robinson's defense team argued prosecutors should be held in contempt for public statements made to the press regarding an ATF ballistics report, and demanded the court strip the state of its ability to seek the death penalty against Robinson.
• A Daily Mail story titled "Bullet used to kill Charlie Kirk did not match the rifle allegedly used by the suspect Tyler Robinson" was picked up by USA Today, People, and CBS News; Utah County attorney Chris Ballard testified that the reports were false and raised concerns about their effect on the prosecution's ability to seat an impartial jury.
• Ballard testified that responding with "no comment" to the false reports would have reinforced the narrative that the state lacked sufficient evidence to proceed, and that he did not believe his statements to the press violated the court's pretrial publicity order or Utah Rules of Professional Conduct.
• Defense attorney Kathy Nester, also lead counsel in the Kouri Richins case, conducted her own pre-trial media interviews in that case to correct what she perceived as misinformation, a fact Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray confirmed on the stand today, directly undermining the defense's contempt argument against the prosecution.