Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul publish text messages from Anthony Fauci’s former government phone, provided by HHS
HHS produced the device’s contents on August 5, 2026. Fauci received a preemptive pardon from President Biden on January 19, 2025.
What happened
On August 10, 2026, Senators Ron Johnson and Rand Paul released a text chain recovered from Anthony Fauci’s former government iPhone. The Department of Health and Human Services, under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had produced it to Johnson’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations on August 5. The device held more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails.
The first release was a January 25-26, 2021 exchange among Fauci, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. It concerned COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant women. Johnson said it showed Fauci raising miscarriage concerns. What the messages actually showed could not be confirmed independently.
The senators said the phone listed only three contacts and that it was too early to know whether data had been deleted. Fauci retired in December 2022. Johnson and Paul have investigated him for years over the origins of the pandemic and public-health guidance.
Who benefited
Johnson and Paul obtained and publicized material for a long-running investigation. Kennedy’s HHS gained a vehicle for discrediting the public-health establishment it has sought to overturn. The release fits the administration’s broader campaign against Fauci, whose security detail Trump withdrew in January 2025.
Who wanted something
Johnson and Paul requested the records, and Kennedy’s HHS supplied them. Trump has repeatedly attacked Fauci and has called Biden’s preemptive pardons void. His Justice Department and HHS have cooperated with congressional investigations of pandemic-era officials.
Who lost out
Fauci’s private communications as a government official were released selectively by political adversaries. Current federal scientists now know their work communications can be handed to congressional investigators and published. Public-health agencies may find it harder to recruit staff willing to give candid advice.
Why it matters
An executive department turned over a former official’s phone to the senators investigating him, and they published selected messages. The pardon had barred prosecution of his pandemic-era conduct. The release shows how the administration and its congressional allies can pursue an adversary without a prosecution.
Sources Sinclair (via KMPH)Fox NewsOffice of Sen. Ron Johnson (primary)CNN