Newly released documents show that Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly instructed government colleagues to delete emails after reading them, including messages dating back more than a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the documents as part of his continuing investigation into Fauci’s government communications. According to Just the News, at least five emails contained deletion instructions.
The messages span Fauci’s final two decades in government and include emails dated Sept. 26, 2009; Dec. 19, 2011; March 4, 2012; Feb. 2, 2020; and July 20, 2020.
In one 2009 exchange involving AIDS vaccine research and comparisons with the smallpox vaccine, Fauci emailed NIAID deputy Greg Folkers and criticized comments being made amid disagreements among researchers.
“It is truly amazing how people let their own self-interest drive them to make stupid statements,” Fauci wrote.
He then instructed Folkers to “please delete this email after you had read it,” according to the newly released records.
Another message highlighted by investigators involved discussion of what was described as a “doomsday virus.”
In that correspondence, Fauci instructed Dr. Cliff Lane to delete the email and then remove it from the deleted folder as well, according to the documents reported by Just the News.
The instructions are receiving renewed scrutiny because federal agencies are generally required under the Federal Records Act to preserve records documenting government business, including emails.
Whether individual messages qualify as federal records and whether their deletion would constitute a violation, however, can depend on the circumstances surrounding the communications and how the records were otherwise preserved.
The documents released by Paul also shed new light on Fauci’s communications with members of the US intelligence community.
Just the News reported that the records show Fauci communicating with the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about scientists who supported the theory that COVID-19 emerged naturally.
One July 2021 communication reportedly involved Fauci encouraging intelligence officials to contact individuals associated with research supporting a natural origin for the virus.
Fauci’s contacts with intelligence agencies were not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Documents previously released by Paul indicated that Fauci’s interactions with the intelligence community stretched back nearly two decades.
The latest records arrive amid escalating congressional scrutiny of the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci appeared before Paul’s committee under subpoena on July 29 and repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than answer substantive questions from senators, per the Western Journal.
According to the committee and Just the News, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during the hearing.
Republicans on the committee subsequently advanced a contempt resolution against Fauci in an 8-5 party-line vote.
Paul has argued that Fauci should not be permitted to rely on the Fifth Amendment because former President Joe Biden granted him a sweeping preemptive federal pardon before leaving office.
Democrats on the committee have disputed that interpretation.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters (D), the committee’s ranking Democrat, argued that Fauci retained constitutional protections and warned that pursuing criminal contempt could weaken congressional oversight powers.
The controversy surrounding Fauci’s records has expanded beyond his email correspondence.
A Senate subcommittee recently obtained a copy of the government-issued iPhone Fauci used during the pandemic, potentially giving investigators access to another extensive collection of communications.
The device contained more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails, according to information released by congressional investigators.
The newly surfaced deletion instructions also follow previous allegations from Paul that Fauci’s records contradicted testimony he provided to the House Oversight Committee in 2024.
Paul’s committee said in September 2025 that newly uncovered emails conflicted with Fauci’s previous testimony that he had not deleted federal records or attempted to obstruct the disclosure of public documents.
The broader investigation has also ensnared former Fauci adviser Dr. David Morens, who previously came under congressional scrutiny over his handling of government communications and Freedom of Information Act requests.
Just the News reported that Morens pleaded guilty this month to conspiracy in a federal case involving efforts to evade public-record requirements.
Fauci’s legal exposure at the federal level is complicated by Biden’s pardon, which covers conduct dating back to Jan. 1, 2014.
That date means some of the emails highlighted in the latest document release — including the September 2009 message — predate the period covered by the pardon.
Meanwhile, state-level scrutiny has continued.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has subpoenaed Fauci as part of an investigation into whether he potentially profited personally from guidance issued while serving as a federal health official.
The latest document release now adds the email-deletion instructions to the growing collection of Fauci communications under examination by congressional investigators, with Paul continuing to press for answers about how government records were handled during Fauci’s tenure.
