In a new batch of documents released by Sen. Rand Paul’s Senate committee, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci is shown asking colleagues to delete email messages sent from his government account. The emails, spanning 2009 to 2020, illustrate a pattern of deletion requests that could run afoul of federal record‑preservation laws.
Five documented deletion requests
The release includes at least five instances where Fauci explicitly told recipients to erase his messages after reading them. In September 2009 he wrote to Greg Folkers about an AIDS‑vaccine dispute and asked the email be deleted. In December 2011 and March 2012 he sent two messages to Clifford Lane concerning the controversial H5N1 “gain‑of‑function” research, each time directing the recipient to delete the email – the 2012 note even instructed Lane to remove it from the deleted folder.
Later, in February 2020, Fauci emailed NIH Director Francis Collins after a widely publicized conference call on the origins of SARS‑CoV‑2, again requesting deletion. The final example, from July 2020, shows Fauci criticizing Sen. Rand Paul in an email to Folkers and asking that it be erased.
Interaction with intelligence officials
Other documents in the package reveal Fauci’s discussions with CIA officials about the Wuhan Institute of Virology, possible laboratory illnesses, and the lack of an identified intermediate animal host. Fauci referred the intelligence officers to scientists who have argued for a natural‑origin explanation of COVID‑19, but the records do not show him directing investigators to reject the laboratory‑origin theory.
A separate CIA‑funded agreement with NIAID concerning forensic comparative genomics of bacterial threats is also included. The agreement, while unclassified, limited public release of the data, a standard practice for biodefense research.
Historical intelligence interest
The files contain a 2015 CIA briefing on MERS coronavirus, demonstrating that U.S. intelligence agencies were examining coronavirus mutation and transmission well before the COVID‑19 pandemic. Although Fauci is not linked to that particular document, it underscores longstanding governmental attention to emerging viral threats.
What the records do and do not prove
The emails themselves survived the release, indicating that the specific deletion requests were not carried out. However, the pattern raises legitimate concerns about whether other communications were destroyed and what they might have contained.
Sen. Paul’s committee concluded that Fauci’s refusal to answer numerous subpoenas, invoking the Fifth Amendment over 100 times, warranted a contempt vote, which passed 8‑7 along party lines. While the Fifth Amendment does not prove wrongdoing, the committee believes the refusal violated the subpoena.
These revelations add to ongoing scrutiny of federal officials’ handling of pandemic‑related information and underscore the importance of transparent record‑keeping for public trust.
Original reporting: Must Read Alaska (Anchorage) — read the source article.
