Senate investigators receive copies of Fauci COVID-era phone data as contempt vote nears

The Senate panel examining Dr. Anthony Fauci has received duplicated files from an iPhone he used while directing the national COVID-19 response, potentially supplying lawmakers with extra records on his official conduct, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Department of Health and Human Services delivered the material to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.

A spokeswoman for Johnson noted that Fauci relied on the phone during his tenure as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It remains unclear which specific records the files include or when review will start.

The development follows the recent transfer and public release of copies of Fauci pandemic journals to Congress. Johnson and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky have pressed for more information on pandemic policies, federally backed coronavirus studies, and virus origins.

Paul and Johnson have also obtained millions of additional pages of Fauci-related documents from government servers, and they continue to seek further materials. Separate probes involving Fauci are underway in at least four Republican-led states.

Senate proceeds with effort to hold Fauci in contempt over COVID response

The latest handover occurs ahead of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee session set for Thursday morning in Washington, where members plan to vote on a contempt measure. Paul, who leads the panel, introduced the resolution earlier in the week.

Fauci declined to respond to more than 100 questions during his subpoenaed appearance on July 29, citing his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination.

He described Paul as having an intense fixation and claimed the senator sought statements that could back calls for imprisonment.

Fauci also informed the committee that he had appeared before or briefed Congress more than 200 times across nearly four decades as the nation primary infectious disease official.

Paul contends that the Fifth Amendment should not apply because former President Joe Biden issued Fauci a broad pardon before leaving office in January 2025.

Biden stated the pardon aimed to shield Fauci from politically driven legal actions. It addressed potential federal offenses from 2014 through January 19, 2025, but excluded later conduct.

Fauci legal team maintains the pardon leaves some exposure possible. It does not block state cases or cover testimony given after the pardon date.

The matter may raise new questions about Congress authority to require testimony from a pardoned individual. Paul indicated the committee would forward any contempt recommendation to the U.S. Attorney Office in Washington if approved, though such referrals usually go to the full Senate.

A Justice Department inquiry or case would not follow automatically. Prosecutors would need to prove willful refusal to answer required questions and address the self-incrimination claim.

Extended dispute over Wuhan laboratory research

Paul and Fauci have long disagreed on whether National Institutes of Health-supported work conducted via EcoHealth Alliance at the Wuhan Institute of Virology qualified as gain-of-function research.

Gain-of-function covers a wide range of experiments that modify organisms to observe changes in traits or behavior, with particular concern over studies that could increase pathogen transmissibility or harm.

Paul has accused Fauci of misleading Congress by denying NIH funding for such research in Wuhan and has suggested U.S.-backed studies may have contributed to the pandemic.

Fauci has rejected the accusations of misleading lawmakers. He has stated that the cited research did not meet the government regulatory definition of gain-of-function work and has dismissed claims of efforts to hide COVID-19 origins.

The exact source of COVID-19 is still unsettled. A declassified U.S. intelligence review found both natural animal transmission and a laboratory incident to be plausible.

Four U.S. intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council assessed with low confidence that natural exposure was most likely. One agency leaned toward a laboratory incident with moderate confidence, while others reached no conclusion.

The review determined the virus was not created as a biological weapon and that most analysts viewed genetic engineering as unlikely. More details on early cases in China would be needed for a firmer finding.

The FBI has supported a laboratory origin, while the CIA stated in January 2025 that it viewed a lab incident as more probable, though with low confidence. China has consistently denied that the pandemic started with a Wuhan lab leak.

Paul released 1,141 pages of Fauci journals shortly before the July hearing, arguing they contradicted statements from federal health officials during the pandemic.

A Fauci representative said the entries aligned with his public remarks at the time. Fauci has indicated he considered both a lab accident and natural transmission possible and expressed early concerns about China transparency.

Fauci position during the pandemic response

Fauci served as NIAID director for 38 years under both Republican and Democratic administrations and emerged as a central figure in the U.S. COVID-19 efforts.

During the first Trump administration, Fauci sometimes publicly differed with the president and urged greater caution as the virus spread. His backing of masks, distancing, vaccines, and other measures drew criticism from Trump supporters and conservative voices.

Supporters note that Fauci and other officials based recommendations on limited and evolving information about a novel virus. Critics fault authorities for extended restrictions, school closures, vaccine requirements, and mixed messaging.

Fauci stayed in government during the early Biden years before retiring in 2022.

HHS is now headed by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime Fauci critic who released a 2021 book alleging close pharmaceutical industry ties and disregard for civil liberties.

A lawyer for Fauci did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the iPhone material.