WASHINGTON — The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has obtained a copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s iPhone used during his time at the Department of Health and Human Services, potentially unlocking additional records related to his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the subcommittee’s chairman, confirmed the development in a post on X on Wednesday. “The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s phone from HHS. Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing,” Johnson wrote, quoting a Wall Street Journal report on the matter.
According to the Journal, the Department of Health and Human Services transferred the phone copy to the subcommittee. HHS is now led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of Fauci. The device was the one Fauci used while serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The move comes amid intensified Republican scrutiny of Fauci’s pandemic-era decisions. Last week, Fauci appeared before a Senate hearing and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times rather than answer questions. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who chairs the broader Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has scheduled a possible vote on Thursday regarding whether to hold Fauci in contempt for his refusal to respond.
Johnson and Paul have already received millions of pages of Fauci-related documents from government servers, along with copies of the former official’s personal journals covering late 2019 through 2022. Investigators continue to press for more records related to pandemic health measures, vaccine policies, early treatments, and the origins of the virus.
Fauci, who retired in 2022, played a central public role in the federal response under both the Trump and Biden administrations. Former President Joe Biden issued a pardon for Fauci near the end of his term amid concerns about potential legal exposure. A lawyer for Fauci did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the phone transfer.
The acquisition of the device adds a new layer to ongoing congressional probes. Johnson’s subcommittee has previously examined vaccine safety monitoring, warnings ignored by FDA officials, and related transparency issues. Whether the phone yields emails, messages, or other materials that fill gaps left by Fauci’s recent silence remains to be determined as the investigation proceeds.
