U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), has requested Dr. Anthony Fauci appear before the committee to address new evidence related to the deletion of official records. The committee’s request follows the discovery of emails that contradict Dr. Fauci’s 2024 testimony before the House Oversight Committee, where he denied under oath ever deleting federal records or obstructing public document releases.
A letter sent by the committee on September 9, 2025, asks Dr. Fauci to provide all communications from 2018 to 2023 concerning topics such as the origins of COVID-19, gain-of-function research, EcoHealth Alliance, and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The letter also invites Dr. Fauci to testify this fall in order to clarify his previous statements and respond to evidence suggesting attempts to conceal information from congressional investigators.
The letter states: “During the course of its investigation, the Committee has obtained records revealing that you directed employees of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) to destroy federal records. These documents suggest your direct involvement in efforts to conceal information related to the Committee’s investigation and appear to contradict your previous testimony before Congress. Accordingly, I request that you provide additional information and formally invite you to appear before the Committee to clarify your previous testimony.”
One email from February 2, 2020—one day after a call about “Proximal Origins”—shows a conversation among Jeremy Farrar, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Francis Collins discussing how they could influence perceptions regarding COVID-19’s origins. In this exchange, Dr. Fauci instructed then-NIH Director Francis Collins: “Please delete this e-mail after you read it.”
Another email dated July 20, 2020 shows Dr. Fauci responding critically about Senator Paul’s oversight efforts and instructing his Chief of Staff: “please delete this e-mail afteryou read it.”
Dr. Paul commented: “Dr. Fauci misled Congress and the American people. The evidence is clear: while publicly posturing as a champion of science, he was privately directing his staff to destroy federal records,” said Dr. Paul. “This is a blatant violation, a betrayal of the public trust, and further proof that Fauci engaged in a coverup from the very beginning of the pandemic.”
