Dr. Anthony Fauci is once again under the congressional spotlight after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) released newly uncovered emails showing the former NIAID director instructing top officials to “delete” government records — directly contradicting Fauci’s sworn testimony from just last year.
Sen. Paul’s findings come from a trove of internal communications dating back to early 2020, including messages between Fauci and then-NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins. In one Feb. 2, 2020 email, sent just hours after an emergency conference call discussing the COVID-19 outbreak from Wuhan, Fauci wrote to Collins: “Please delete this e-mail after you read it.”
The email thread reportedly involved several top health officials — including British researcher Jeremy Farrar — strategizing how to “get ahead” of the narrative surrounding the virus’s origins. Shortly after, the now-debunked “Proximal Origin” paper was published, dismissing the lab-leak theory as conspiracy despite internal doubts.
Fauci would later claim in public that he didn’t know who wrote the paper — even though records confirm he helped edit it.
Another email from July 2020 showed Fauci telling his deputy, Greg Folkers, to “please delete this e-mail after you read it.” That message centered around a tweet from Sen. Paul criticizing Fauci’s praise for New York’s lockdown response while ignoring states like Florida.
These messages raise serious red flags in light of Fauci’s sworn testimony to Congress in 2023, when he answered “No” three separate times when asked if he ever deleted official government records.
Sen. Paul sent a formal letter on September 9 demanding Fauci produce records covering 2018 through 2023, including texts, emails, and other communications. He also called for an interview to be scheduled between October 28 and December 11, and accused Fauci of directing staff to “destroy federal records.”
Paul further noted that former Fauci adviser Dr. David Morens was already under investigation for using a “secret back channel” to evade FOIA laws and “help” Fauci bypass transparency requirements. One watchdog group even accused Fauci last year of improperly using a private email account to manage media blowback over controversial experiments involving beagle puppies.
Fauci’s spokespersons and attorneys have yet to comment on the new allegations or whether he will comply with Paul’s request to appear. Fauci currently serves as a professor at Georgetown University.
The latest revelations have reignited calls from Republicans for criminal accountability. Paul has already referred Fauci to the DOJ for prosecution related to past testimony on gain-of-function research tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“The American people deserve the truth — not redacted emails, secret back channels, and selective memory,” Paul said. “This is about accountability at the highest levels of government.”
The post Fauci Called Back To Congress After Rand Paul Uncovers Email Deletion Requests appeared first on Real News Now.
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