A Senate investigative panel has obtained a copy of former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government-issued iPhone, potentially providing lawmakers with additional records as they continue to investigate the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Department of Health and Human Services transferred a copy of the phone to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., reports The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
The transfer comes days after copies of Fauci’s journals were released publicly following their handover from HHS to Congress.
Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., have intensified their scrutiny of Fauci in recent days, seeking more information about the government’s pandemic response and the origins of COVID-19.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Paul, voted Thursday to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he declined to answer lawmakers’ questions during testimony last week.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times during the hearing and said he had testified before or briefed Congress more than 200 times during his nearly four decades leading the nation’s infectious disease institute.
During the hearing, Fauci described Paul as having an “unhinged obsession” with him.
According to a spokeswoman for Johnson, Fauci used the phone during his tenure as director of NIAID.
Fauci became a central figure in the Trump administration’s response to the pandemic in 2020, at times publicly disagreeing with President Donald Trump over the nation’s response and advocating stricter public health measures.
He remained in government during the beginning of the Biden administration before retiring in 2022.