Overview
- Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday after Sen. Rand Paul released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci’s pandemic-era notes.
- Republicans say the diary entries show Fauci privately discounted the Wuhan wet market origin and signaled other views that conflict with his public statements, while Fauci maintains a lab leak remains unlikely.
- President Biden’s 2025 pardon narrowed Fauci’s risk of criminal charges for pre-pardon actions but does not protect him from prosecution for lying under oath.
- Sen. Paul issued the subpoena using the committee’s new unilateral subpoena power, making this his first such enforcement and increasing the chair’s leverage to compel testimony.
- The World Health Organization’s 2025 report judged zoonotic spillover more likely than a lab leak and left the origin question unresolved, and the released notes also detail Fauci’s efforts to counter the ‘Beaglegate’ attacks through media and political allies.