Anthony Fauci thought his days of getting grilled by Congress were over.
He was wrong.
And Rand Paul caught Anthony Fauci in one lie that has him racing back to Congress.
Fauci’s smoking gun emails surface
Senator Rand Paul just dropped a bombshell that’s got Anthony Fauci scrambling back to Washington, D.C.
The Kentucky Republican uncovered emails showing Fauci repeatedly asking government officials to "delete" messages – the same Anthony Fauci who told Congress under oath that he never destroyed federal records.
Paul’s investigation revealed not one, but multiple instances where Fauci explicitly requested colleagues delete his emails after reading them.
The first smoking gun came from February 2, 2020, when Fauci sent an urgent message to then-National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins with a crystal clear instruction: "Please delete this e-mail after you read it."
This wasn’t some casual request.
The email came right after an all-hands emergency conference call with top NIH officials about the rapidly spreading pandemic from Wuhan, China.
British medical researcher Jeremy Farrar warned in that email thread that it was "Critical that responsible, respected scientists and agencies get ahead of the science and the narrative of this and are not reacting to reports which could be very damaging."
That February 2020 email chain directly led to the now-infamous scientific paper titled "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2" published the following month.
The paper dismissed the lab leak theory as conspiracy nonsense – even though Fauci had helped edit it behind the scenes.
When reporters asked Fauci about the paper in April 2020, he claimed he didn’t know who wrote it.
He also called the lab leak theory a "shiny object that will go away."
But Paul found a second deletion request from July 20, 2020, where Fauci told his deputy Greg Folkers to "please delete this e-mail after you read it."
That email centered on a tweet from Paul criticizing Fauci for praising New York’s disastrous COVID response compared to Florida.
Fauci caught lying to Congress three separate times
Here’s where this gets really interesting.
During his testimony to a House subcommittee last year, Fauci was asked point-blank three different times whether he had ever deleted official government records.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer asked directly: "Dr. Fauci, did you ever delete an official record?"
Fauci’s answer was unequivocal: "No."
He said it three times under oath.
But Paul’s emails prove that was a flat-out lie.
Paul fired off a letter to Fauci on September 9 stating the emails prove the public health official "directed" employees at NIH "to destroy federal records."
"I have reason to believe that you may be in possession of additional records related to the Committee’s ongoing investigation," Paul wrote.
The Senator is demanding Fauci turn over emails, text messages, and other communications from 2018 to 2023.
He’s also requesting an interview date between October 28 and December 11.
This isn’t Paul’s first rodeo with Fauci.
The Kentucky Senator previously referred Fauci for federal prosecution based on lying to Congress about the Wuhan grants for gain-of-function research on coronaviruses.
Look, here’s what’s really going on
You want to know why this matters so much?
For folks who questioned Fauci’s story from day one, this is complete vindication.
Remember when anyone who suggested COVID might have leaked from the Wuhan lab got labeled a conspiracy theorist?
Fauci was leading that charge, calling it a "shiny object" while secretly helping craft papers to dismiss the theory.
Meanwhile, he’s telling his buddies to delete the evidence of their coordination.
This is the same playbook they used throughout the entire pandemic – attack anyone who questioned the narrative while covering their tracks behind the scenes.
Fauci’s deputy David Morens was already caught discussing ways to evade Freedom of Information Act requests, including using a "secret back channel" to help his boss avoid transparency.
Now we’ve got Fauci dead to rights asking people to delete government emails – then lying about it to Congress three separate times.
Here’s the part that should make you furious: while Fauci was orchestrating this cover-up, millions of Americans were losing their jobs, their businesses, and their freedoms based on his recommendations.
Kids were kept out of school, families were separated during funerals, and small businesses were destroyed – all while the architect of these policies was busy destroying evidence and lying to the people’s representatives.
If they get away with this, what message does that send to every other bureaucrat who thinks they’re above the law?
The answer is simple: there are no consequences for lying to the American people as long as you’re pushing the right agenda.
But Rand Paul isn’t letting this slide.
He’s dragging Fauci back to Congress, and this time, the Kentucky Senator has the receipts.
¹ Josh Christenson, "Dr. Anthony Fauci called back before Congress after his requests to ‘delete’ government emails uncovered by Sen. Rand Paul," New York Post, September 11, 2025.
