Newly released congressional records show Anthony Fauci told colleagues to “please delete this e-mail after you read it,” clashing with his sworn denial that he ever deleted official records.
Story Highlights
- Emails show Fauci twice asked officials to delete messages in 2020, according to Senate and House materials.
- Fauci denied under oath in 2024 that he deleted emails or official records tied to COVID origins.
- Federal rules say email that is a federal record must not be deleted without authority; unauthorized deletion must be reported.
- Fauci adviser David Morens admitted using personal email and deleting messages to avoid public release, records say.
What the new documents show about the deletion instructions
Senate Homeland Security materials and a later committee letter say Fauci emailed then National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins on February 2, 2020 and wrote, “Please delete this e-mail after you read it”. House investigators also cite a July 20, 2020 email from Fauci to his chief of staff Greg Folkers with the same instruction, “please delete this e-mail after you read it”. These are direct quotes from official communications released by Congress. The content tied to origins discussions raised new oversight questions.
House records further note that the February 2020 discussions involved leading figures debating how to address the science and public narrative on where the virus came from. This links the deletion language to a sensitive policy moment. Committee materials also argue that Fauci knew about risky research in Wuhan, based on a 2020 email cited in their transcript materials. Those claims are committee assertions; the quoted “please delete” lines are documentary excerpts they published.
Fauci’s sworn denials and the gap investigators want to close
Fauci denied under oath that he deleted any emails or records tied to the Wuhan lab or virus origins. He answered “No, I did not” when asked in a 2024 House hearing. He also denied ever deleting an official record and denied trying to block Freedom of Information Act releases, according to related materials and statements. The emails released later create a factual clash between his denials and the instruction to delete seen in those 2020 messages.
That clash matters for records law. The National Institutes of Health policy manual states that any email meeting the definition of a federal record must not be deleted from the email system. If such an email is deleted, that is an unauthorized destruction and must be reported to the National Archives and Records Administration. The question is whether the specific emails were federal records and whether anyone followed the delete request. Public materials do not yet prove the deletions happened or show full audit logs.
Morens’s “back channel” emails raise broader transparency alarms
Separate documents about Fauci’s senior adviser, David Morens, show a pattern of evading transparency. House materials say Morens described deleting messages, using personal email, and learning how to make emails “disappear” to avoid Freedom of Information Act searches. These records paint a wider culture problem inside parts of the agency during the pandemic. They also suggest staff tried to move sensitive talks off official systems. That strengthens oversight concerns even if it does not prove Fauci himself deleted messages.
SCOOP: Emails I obtained show Fauci again asking an aide to delete an email in violation of federal law.
"PLEASE DELETE THIS EMAIL THEN DELETE FROM THE DELETED FILE," Fauci wrote.
The emails involve Fauci's infamous 2011 op-ed defending gain-of-function research despite the… pic.twitter.com/u4q0eZJUpk
— John F. Kennedy Jr (@johnfkjn) August 29, 2026
Congressional leaders argue the deletion instructions, paired with Morens’s conduct, justify more subpoenas, depositions, and technical forensics. They want full headers, server retention logs, and backup archives for the February 2 and July 20, 2020 emails. They also seek sworn testimony from records and information technology staff on whether any such deletions were carried out. Until those records are produced, the strongest public evidence remains the plain-text deletion requests and the sworn denials that now sit in tension.
Why this matters to taxpayers, trust, and the rule of law
Americans paid for these agencies, these grants, and the pandemic response. They deserve a clear paper trail. Records rules exist to protect the truth, not a narrative. If officials told others to delete federal records, that violates policy and erodes trust. If they did not, full logs can clear the air. President Trump’s administration and Congress can insist on complete disclosure so future crises are handled with openness, not back channels. Sunlight serves science, accountability, and the Constitution.
Sources:
redstate.com, hsgac.senate.gov, congress.gov, nypost.com, oversight.house.gov
