Fauci Refused to Answer — Now His COVID-Era Phone May Do the Talking

By Lucretia Hughes Klucken

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times when senators questioned him about the COVID-19 pandemic, government-funded research and his communications during one of the darkest chapters in recent American history.

Now, investigators may have obtained something that cannot plead the Fifth: a copy of Fauci’s government-issued iPhone.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., confirmed Wednesday that the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations obtained a copy of the iPhone Fauci used while serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The Department of Health and Human Services provided the device copy to the subcommittee, which Johnson chairs.

“Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing,” Johnson wrote on social media.

Whether investigators can access all the phone’s contents remains unclear. That distinction matters because possessing a digital copy does not necessarily mean the committee can immediately read encrypted messages, deleted communications or information protected by legal privilege.

But the development could provide investigators with a new trail of emails, text messages, call records, contacts, notes and other government records documenting what Fauci knew, when he knew it and who was communicating with him behind the scenes.

For years, Fauci appeared on television and presented himself as the unquestionable voice of science. Americans were told to trust him while businesses were destroyed, churches were closed, children were kept out of classrooms, families were separated from dying relatives and citizens were threatened with losing their jobs over personal medical decisions.

Anyone who questioned the official story was labeled dangerous, ignorant or a conspiracy theorist.

Now, the man who once seemed unable to find a television camera he did not like suddenly has very little to say.

Fauci appeared under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29. He repeatedly invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination rather than answer questions about the pandemic, the origins of COVID-19 and federally supported virus research.

The Fifth Amendment belongs to every American, including Fauci. Invoking it is not, by itself, proof of guilt.

But Congress also has a constitutional duty to conduct oversight, investigate the use of taxpayer money and demand answers from government officials. Fauci did not operate as a private citizen during the pandemic. He was one of the highest-paid employees in the federal government and exercised enormous influence over policies that affected nearly every American.

The public has a right to know how those decisions were made.

Fauci argued that he invoked the Fifth Amendment because Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had publicly called for his prosecution and was attempting to trap him into making statements that could be used against him.

Paul, chairman of the Senate committee, has announced a vote on whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress. He has said a favorable committee vote would be referred to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution.

The legal dispute is complicated by the sweeping preemptive pardon former President Joe Biden issued Fauci shortly before leaving office in January 2025. The pardon covered potential federal offenses dating from Jan. 1, 2014, through the date of the pardon.

Republican senators argue the pardon eliminated Fauci’s risk of federal prosecution for covered conduct and therefore weakened his basis for refusing to testify about those matters.

Fauci and his attorneys maintain that legal risks remain, including possible state investigations, disputes over the validity or scope of the pardon and potential exposure arising from statements made after the pardon.

Courts may ultimately have to decide whether his refusal was legally justified.

But the larger issue is not simply whether Fauci can be compelled to speak. It is whether government records can finally establish the facts without relying on his cooperation.

The phone was reportedly used during Fauci’s time at NIAID, the agency he led for nearly four decades before retiring in 2022. If properly preserved, its contents could help investigators compare his private communications with his public statements and prior testimony.

That comparison is essential.

Investigators have spent years examining whether U.S. taxpayer money supported research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology through grants involving EcoHealth Alliance. They have also questioned when Fauci and other officials began considering a possible laboratory origin for the virus and whether competing scientific theories were suppressed or discredited for political reasons.

Fauci has denied wrongdoing and previously disputed claims that he lied to Congress about gain-of-function research.

Those allegations must be proven with evidence, not anger, speculation or political theater.

The iPhone may contain important evidence. It may also contain very little. Investigators should not announce conclusions before completing a lawful forensic review.

However, they should follow every record wherever it leads.

If the phone shows Fauci’s private communications matched his public testimony, release the evidence and let the record clear him. If it shows contradictions, concealment or coordination designed to mislead Congress or the American people, then those findings must also be released and investigated.

No redactions should be used merely to protect political reputations. Legitimate national security information, personal medical records and legally privileged communications can be protected without hiding evidence of government misconduct.

The American people paid for the phone. They paid Fauci’s salary. They funded the agencies, grants, research and public health response now under investigation.

They also paid the price for the decisions made during the pandemic.

Millions lost loved ones. Children lost irreplaceable years of education and development. Small-business owners lost everything they had built. Families were divided, workers were fired and Americans were told that asking questions made them enemies of science.

The country cannot simply move on while the officials responsible for those decisions hide behind bureaucratic walls, missing records and selective memories.

Fauci has the same constitutional rights as every other citizen. He does not have a special right to keep government business hidden from the taxpayers he served.

For years, he controlled the microphone.

Now his government-issued phone may reveal what was happening when the cameras were turned off.

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