The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, chaired by Senator Rand Paul, issued a letter on Wednesday requesting that Dr. Anthony Fauci provide additional records and appear before the Committee as part of its ongoing investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and high-risk life sciences research.
The letter states that the Committee has obtained documents suggesting Fauci directed NIH employees to destroy federal records, raising questions about his prior congressional testimony. In June 2024, Fauci testified under oath before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, denying ever deleting official records or obstructing Freedom of Information Act requests. The Committee said newly obtained emails, including a February 2, 2020 message instructing then-NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins to “delete this c-mail after you read it,” appear to contradict that testimony. Another email from July 20, 2020, told an NIH employee, “I do not want to engage any more with this nonsense. And so, please delete this e-mail after you read it.”
Senator Paul’s letter requests that Fauci provide, by 5:00 PM on September 23, 2025, complete and unredacted records including: email communications, attachments, call logs, voicemails, and messages sent or received on government or personal devices between January 1, 2018, and January 1, 2023, relating to COVID-19 research, NIH, HHS, gain-of-function research, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, EcoHealth Alliance, and other related individuals and organizations. The Committee also seeks Fauci’s availability to testify on multiple dates from late October through December 2025.
The letter emphasizes that these records are necessary for the Committee to fully understand federal efforts to identify COVID-19’s origins, assess the use of taxpayer funds in risky virological research, and consider potential legislative reforms.
