As Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed campaigns for the U.S. Senate, his calls during the COVID-19 pandemic for renewed lockdowns, business fines, and expanded vaccination are likely to face scrutiny. 
During his failed 2021 campaign for Michigan governor, El-Sayed said he would have ordered another statewide shutdown to slow the spread of COVID.
“There’s no question,” El-Sayed <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/apr-23-2021-rep-david-lagrand-off-the-record-mzyrt1/">said</a> when asked whether, as governor, he would shut the state down. “If you look at where the science and where the science has been. The CDC itself has suggested that we ought to shut things down. And we know that shutdowns in the past have been successful whether it was in the Spring or the Fall. This is a responsibility.” 
El-Sayed proposed what he described as a two- to three-week &#8220;pause&#8221; and said that if businesses did not comply, they should face “a very annoying but real fine.” 
“I get that people are sick of this but it’s the right thing to do to stop the spread of this contagious variant of the virus. What is the alternative?” 
He also argued that systemic racism and poverty contributed to challenges in distributing vaccines in cities such as Detroit.
“We know the biggest challenge to delivering public health in a community like Detroit, because of systemic racism and poverty it creates, is the last mile problem,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You can offer a vaccine in places…but we all now that is not really where people actually live and we got to get them out to people’s doorstep.” 
To address vaccine hesitancy, El-Sayed proposed working with trusted community leaders, including pastors and neighborhood organizations.
&#8220;What I’d like to see, right, and this is a big lift, right, is more focus on taking on the vaccine hesitancy, whether it’s a block club captain or a local pastor and thinking about that last mile problem by putting vaccines on wheels and getting them out into people’s communities,” he said. 
During the pandemic, El-Sayed also launched a twice-weekly podcast to keep listeners informed about COVID-19 and public health policy. At the time, he described himself as “a physician and former city health commissioner,&#8221; while also serving as a CNN contributor focused on public health issues. 
El-Sayed&#8217;s current Senate platform includes support for Medicare for All, codifying abortion rights, and expanding access to so-called &#8220;gender-affirming care.&#8221; His campaign has not specified whether he supports El-Sayed did not specify if he supports &#8220;gender reassignment surgeries&#8221; for children.

Bernie Sanders Continues His “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour In Detroit With Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed

El-Sayed Pushed For Renewed COVID Lockdowns, Fines For Businesses That Defied Them

Abdul El-Sayed

COVID

COVID-19

Elections

Haley Stevens

Michigan

U.S. Senate

One Democrat senator admitted to being &#8220;blinded&#8221; by his own political assumptions during the COVID-19 pandemic as Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment during a Senate Committee hearing on Wednesday.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman confessed he regrets allowing political partisanship to influence his rejection of the &#8220;Right-wing theory&#8221; that COVID came from the Wuhan lab in China during the early days of the pandemic. Fetterman said the so-called lab leak theory, which was branded as a conspiracy by the legacy media, had “seemed to make sense,” but added that it “became a very partisan thing.” 
“Early on, there was the theory that the virus could have emerged from the lab, and early on that became like a ‘Right-wing&#8217; kind of theory and I thought it seemed to make sense,” said Fetterman. “Now there was a really advanced lab that was close by, and then you have this unknown virus out. But that became a very partisan thing, and now it seems now it&#8217;s a more and more emerging theory that it would have come from the lab.” 
Fetterman, who was uncharacteristically dressed in a suit at the hearing, said he hopes the next time America faces a crisis, it is not “blinded by the partisan idea that maybe the truth might come from a side that&#8217;s different that you are,&#8221; as he “might have been” blinded.  
&#8220;Americans should be willing to pursue truth no matter where that may have emerged,” said Fetterman.   
Fetterman was the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania throughout the COVID pandemic and worked alongside Democratic Governor Tom Wolf and trans-identifying Secretary of Health Rachel Levine to implement some of the most draconian mitigation policies in the nation, including extended school closures and forcing senior citizens to die alone in nursing homes. 
Fetterman adamantly supported Wolf and Levine’s policies, including a <a href="https://lvb.com/dr-rachel-levine-issues-expanded-mask-wearing-order/">universal masking mandate</a> that required children as young as 2 years old to be masked whenever leaving home. He also <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/fetterman-on-rising-coronavirus-cases-in-pa/">begged</a> Pennsylvanians to “just wear a mask” in a November 2020 video. Wolf implemented a <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/12/no-more-indoor-dining-casinos-and-theaters-will-close-and-new-limits-on-retailers-pa-gov-tom-wolf.html">second lockdown</a> in Pennsylvania in December 2020 that extended to January 2021 and further devastated local businesses during the holiday season.   
Fetterman noted during the hearing that members of his family had died from COVID and also said he grieves for people who lost their businesses due to pandemic decisions and will “never be the same.”  
&#8220;During the pandemic I was lieutenant governor so we were in the middle of all of that maelstrom, trying to find the right balance between protect life and protect the economics of all of it,&#8221; said Fetterman. “I&#8217;m not sure if we got it all right or wrong, but without a doubt I continue to question myself.” 
Fetterman is an outspoken supporter of transgenderism and supports the inclusion of men in women’s sports. In a March 2025 post on <a href="https://x.com/SenFettermanPA/status/1896728606812028954?s=46&amp;t=ZAoIkqhiKpZyQayFV_2XbQ">X,</a> Fetterman wrote, “The small handful of trans athletes in PA in a political maelstrom deserve an ally, and I am one.”

John Fetterman

Fetterman Admits He Was ‘Blinded’ By Partisanship During COVID

Anthony Fauci

COVID-19 Vaccine

Face Masks

Lockdowns

Pennsylvania

Rand Paul

Senate

Fauci/Paul

After Fauci Pleads The Fifth, Rand Paul Makes Contempt Move

Biden Administration

Congress

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Trump Administration

Vaccines

President Donald Trump unloaded on Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday morning, declaring that the former top doc’s star power plummeted whenever he was in the room with him.
&#8220;When he was with Biden, he was like the God. When he was with me, he wasn&#8217;t even close,&#8221; Trump told Fox News host Steve Doocy.
The president said he was never under the controversial doctor&#8217;s spell, revealing he would have kicked Fauci to the curb if he had known then what he knows now, claiming that he barely listened to him anyway.
Trump blasted Fauci’s flip-flops during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling out the dizzying, back-and-forth guidance on face coverings.
&#8220;He started off saying, &#8216;Don&#8217;t wear them.&#8217; Then he said, &#8216;Wear them.&#8217; Then he said, &#8216;Don&#8217;t wear them.&#8217; And I lost a lot of respect for him during the period of time,&#8221; Trump said, mocking the mixed signals. &#8220;I said, &#8216;What are you doing?'&#8221;
The president&#8217;s comments come after Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) released a trove of previously private Fauci diaries ahead of Fauci&#8217;s expected testimony this Wednesday. The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/faucis-personal-diary-highlights-shocking-contradiction-on-covid-fatality-rate">diaries</a> appear to show that Fauci misled Congress about the coronavirus fatality rate in the early days of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, Trump slammed Fauci’s obsession with locking down the nation, boasting that he stepped in as a &#8220;federalist&#8221; to let state governors call the shots instead of bowing to Washington bureaucrats.
While blue-state governors locked their doors and threw away the keys, Trump pointed out that red states opened up fast — and fared far better for it.
&#8220;He wanted everything closed,&#8221; Trump insisted. &#8220;It just turned out that closing wasn&#8217;t so good&#8230; Some of the states that fared the worst in terms of the spread were actually closed. OK, explain that. Nobody can explain that.&#8221;
Trump said he always maintained COVID came straight out of a Wuhan lab, which mainstream media and Fauci initially pooh-poohed. He touted his administration&#8217;s success with Operation Warp Speed and cranking out ventilators for the world.
As for Fauci, Trump claimed that he made sure to distance himself from the career bureaucrat. While he didn&#8217;t hate the man personally, Trump said he couldn&#8217;t stand his policies, taking a parting shot at President Biden for rolling out the red carpet for the doctor.
Not only did Biden treat Fauci like royalty, Trump noted, but he handed him a high-ranking post and a presidential pardon to boot, saying, &#8220;I didn&#8217;t agree with what he was saying or what he was doing. And when Biden came in, he inherited him and he gave him a tremendously high position. And then he gave him a pardon.&#8221;

Trump/Fauci

Trump Unloads On Fauci After Diary Revelations, Then Reveals ‘God’ Theory

Pandemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci recommended White House adviser Stephen Miller move into a hotel for two weeks after his wife, Katie Miller, tested positive for COVID-19 while 10 weeks pregnant, according to newly released diary entries.
The entries were released Saturday by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf">obtained</a> them during his investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and gain-of-function research ahead of Fauci&#8217;s planned testimony on Capitol Hill in the coming week.
&#8220;COVID-19 hits the White House!!&#8221; Fauci wrote on May 8, 2020. &#8220;Yesterday, it was revealed that the personal valet of the POTUS tested positive for Sars-CoV-2. However, today it was noted that Katie Miller tested positive. She was negative yesterday and positive X2 today!!!&#8221;
&#8220;She had sxs (sic) in the Sit room yesterday and sat next to Steve Hahn and behind Azar,&#8221; Fauci continued, listing a number of officials who had all attended the same briefing. &#8220;I was on the other side of the room from her, but she was coughing in the room. She sat next to Olivia Troye when she was coughing and, in the afternoon, yesterday, Olivia sat right next to me in the Ward Room of the West Wing for 45 minutes. In the room were Deb Birx, Steve Hahn, Bob Redfield, Tyler Ann, Seema Verma.&#8221;
Fauci went on to note that White House adviser Stephen Miller had tested negative even after his wife had tested positive — a relief for the White House chief medical adviser because he&#8217;d spent some time in close proximity to Miller.
&#8220;I spent much time on phone this evening advising Katie and Steve Miller as to what they should do,&#8221; Fauci continued. &#8220;She is 10 weeks pregnant. I advised that Steve must move out of the house into a hotel; he still has to self-isolate for 14 days. If he stays in the house, whether or not he gets infected, he still must self-isolate for 14 days after Katies (sic) tests negative. His clock will start after he separates from Katie and so he should start the clock now.&#8221;
Fauci explained that because he was a &#8220;low risk exposure,&#8221; he self-imposed a &#8220;modified quarantine&#8221; in which he would &#8220;get tested every day, would wear a mask ontinually (sic), and would spend most of my time either alone in my home office or alone in my NIH office and would go to White House or Congress with precautions of universal mask wearing and phycial (sic) distancing.&#8221;
He also noted that he was monitoring Katie Miller via phone, noting that she&#8217;d been very anxious about her health and that of her unborn child.
&#8220;She is very anxious about getting very ill since she is 10 weeks pregnant. Tonight she had an anxiety reaction. I calmed her over the phone. Her pulse Ox is fine and she is afebrile,&#8221; he wrote.
His other main concern was the fact that some of those who&#8217;d been seated close to Katie were not doing enough to mitigate the potential spread of the virus.
&#8220;Marc Short and others close to Katie really should do some sort of quarantine (even if modified), but they are not even wearing masks. Not a good metric,&#8221; he complained.

Stephen Miller

Fauci Advised Stephen Miller To Leave His Pregnant Wife Alone With COVID, Get A Hotel

Alex Azar

Dr. Deborah Birx

Health

Media

Politics

Robert Redfield

White House

Just two days after the first case of the novel coronavirus was confirmed in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci was already imagining himself to be an adversary to President Donald Trump.
Fauci wrote about the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in a series of <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf">diary entries</a> — published Saturday by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) ahead of Fauci&#8217;s planned Capitol Hill testimony on Wednesday — and it was clear that the former White House medical adviser fancied himself to be the guy who would tell the truth even if doing so provoked the ire of the president.
The first confirmed case — involving a man who had recently traveled from Wuhan, China, to Snohomish County, Washington — was reported on January 20, 2020.
Fauci wrote about that the following day, saying, &#8220;He walked into a clinical with fever and respiratory sxs and was smart enough to mention that he just came from Wuhan.&#8221;
He followed that comment with a list of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-fauci-diaries-reveal-celebrity-obsession-at-height-of-covid-crisis">nine interviews</a> he&#8217;d done with various media outlets about the rapidly spreading virus.
On January 22, Fauci noted that the United States was moving to contain the spread by routing all travelers from Wuhan through five airports where they could be screened upon arrival — &#8220;Chicago ORD and Atl airports added to entry screening with JFK, LAX, and SFO,&#8221; he wrote — and he noted that worldwide, there had been 400 reported cases and nine deaths.
Just above his usual daily list of media appearances, he wrote, &#8220;On the interview below (FOX Business with David Asman) one of the panel asked me to comment of a clip he played where Trump said that everything is under control. Xi Jinping told him everything is under control.&#8221;
He then suggested that Trump might view it as a direct contradiction when he said that the situation was being taken &#8220;very seriously,&#8221; adding, &#8220;I had to answer that we are taking this very seriously and that Americans should not be frightened or worry, but we are taking it seriously. Let us see if this pits me against the POTUS.&#8221;
If Fauci&#8217;s later entries are to be believed, Trump was clearly unbothered by that particular comment. Two weeks lates, on February 6, Fauci wrote, &#8220;When we walked in the POTUS was not yet in the room. When he walked in with Melania, the first thing he did was say, &#8216;Anthony, come here and say hello to Melania.&#8217; Then, to my embarrassment in front of everyone (Kellyanne, Mick, Bob O’Brien and many in Cabinet) he told Melania that I was the smartest person in the world.&#8221;

Donald Trump Anthony Fauci

Fauci Already Imagined Himself As Trump’s Adversary In January 2020

Fauci Already Imagined Himself As Trump's Adversary In January 2020

Dr. Anthony Fauci rejected questions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and funding sent from the United States to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, saying that he was &#8220;wasting&#8221; time by addressing the concerns posed by members of Congress.
Fauci&#8217;s private thoughts were presented for public consumption when Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) — who was responsible for asking many of the aforementioned questions — published a number of diary entries he&#8217;d uncovered while investigating the former White House medical adviser.
Paul shared a lengthy thread on X, complete with screenshots of some of the most relevant diary entries, and added some of his own notes ahead of Fauci&#8217;s scheduled testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
9/9 July 12, 2021. Fauci complains about &#8220;how many hours we are all wasting&#8221; answering letters he calls &#8220;fundamentally driven by conspiracy theories&#8221; — from senators he names, including me. 
Asking who funded the research is not a conspiracy theory. It&#8217;s oversight. <a href="https://t.co/ZgjIrsyAam">pic.twitter.com/ZgjIrsyAam</a>
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) <a href="https://x.com/SenRandPaul/status/2081093837397659942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On July 7, 2021 — long after it was first posited in January of 2020 that a new coronavirus strain could have been leaked from the Wuhan lab, either intentionally or accidentally — Fauci wrote that he had actively encouraged members of the National Security Council to work with several &#8220;qualified&#8221;virologists to dig into the pandemic&#8217;s origins. Two of the four virologists he&#8217;d recommended to the NSC came out with a paper that same day arguing that the virus had occurred naturally.
On July 9, Fauci complained about &#8220;how many hours we are all wasting&#8221; taking questions about whether or not U.S. funding for the Wuhan lab had been used to conduct dangerous &#8220;gain-of-function&#8221; research that would have made the virus more deadly.
&#8220;It is important to point out how many hours we are all wasting in responding to the multiple letters from senators and congressmen fundamentally driven by conspiracy theories that the NIH has funded work at Wuhan institute of virology that led to SARS-CoV-2,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;For example, over the weekend I was on multiple zoom calls with my staff fine-tuning the letters in response to the multiple questions.&#8221;
He referenced Paul as one of the senators asking questions, and then voiced surprise that he&#8217;d also received questions from Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) because &#8220;he generally is a friendly person to me.&#8221;

Fauci Complains Questions About COVID Origins Were ‘Wasting’ Time

Fauci Complains Questions About COVID Origins Were 'Wasting' Time

Wuhan Institute of Virology

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former Chief Medical Advisor to the President, appeared consumed with media attention and his growing public image as the coronavirus pandemic claimed lives and overwhelmed hospitals around the globe.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_politics_article_main-content_article-body_6_1">released an avalanche of private Fauci diaries</a> ahead of his expected testimony this Wednesday before a key oversight committee.  
The documents shed light on the COVID adviser&#8217;s obsession with his public profile at the height of the years-long pandemic. Inside the near-daily journal entries chronicled Fauci&#8217;s nonstop media appearances on local and national outlets, reaching a level of publicity that Fauci himself couldn’t help but blush about. 
The Daily Wire is publishing excerpts from Fauci&#8217;s journal without any edits or spelling corrections.
“Press still hot and heavy about me,” Fauci wrote on April 7, 2020. “Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”
Weeks later, hundreds of thousands of infections spread worldwide, and nearly 10,000 had died from the virus when Fauci penned the following journal entry on May 21, 2020. 
“Big front page article abut me appeared in the Washington Post. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyoperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson in the world,” Fauci wrote. 
“Countless profiles on me in multiple media. I cannot even read all the things that are written abuyt me since I am so busy … seriously. POTUS seems to be enamored of me even though I am taking the spotlight away from him. We are developing a very unique and interesting relationship,” he added. 
Fauci also recounted how U.S. Secret Service agents routinely waved him through the White House gates without asking to see his badge, often striking up casual conversations.
“Everyone is worried about my health and welfare, probably because it is all over the place that I am almost 80 years old,” he wrote at the time. 
About a month later, Fauci admitted to telling his counterpart, Dr. Deborah Birx, that the administration’s infamous contact tracing and isolation strategy to combat the virus was a “f*cking disaster and an abject failure.”
In the same journal entry, however, Fauci quipped about being invited to appear on &#8220;Dancing With The Stars.&#8221; 
The infatuation with television hits did not stop as the virus abated in parts of the country and red-state governors started reopening measures. In a June 29 meeting with then-Vice President Mike Pence, Fauci pleaded to get back on the big screens. 
“I told him that I am being blocked from TV and I needed to get on TV to give the ‘risk reduction” message and that I would avoid being pitted against him or the POTUS merely by not playing that game,” he wrote. “He did promise that he would get me out there on TV since he really liked my message. First time anyone ever spoke that way to VP. He truly likes me a lot (and vice versa).” 
“Now we have to get the POTUS press people to agree. Interesting intrigue in the White House. POTUS people versus VP people,” he added, suggesting internal divisions at the time over public relations strategy. 
In June, Sen. Paul announced that he issued a subpoena after Fauci allegedly backed out of an agreement to voluntarily appear. 
“Last week, Anthony Fauci notified us he will NOT voluntarily testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, even though he had previously agreed to do so,” Paul <a href="https://x.com/RandPaul/status/2069168695398588521">wrote on X</a>. “Therefore, today I have issued a subpoena requiring him to testify before the Committee, in public, next month.”
The subpoena is the first issued by Paul since taking over as chairman of the committee, which granted its chairman unilateral subpoena authority last year, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rand-paul-issues-first-subpoena-of-long-senate-career-for-tony-fauci?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Rand+Paul+Issues+First+Subpoena+Of+Long+Senate+Career+%E2%80%94+For+Tony+Fauci">The Daily Wire reported</a>.
Speaking to <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/06/23/2026/why-rand-paul-subpoenaed-fauci">Semafor</a>, Paul said months of negotiations with Fauci ultimately broke down after the former public health official agreed to appear and then reversed course.
“He’s been slow-walking information to us for six months or more,” Paul told the outlet. “We’ve been negotiating over the date for several months. He agreed, then he said he wouldn’t. So, I think it’s time that we bring him in.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
1/9 — My investigation uncovered that Anthony Fauci kept a diary. 
What he wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories.
Today I&#8217;m releasing his entries from December 2019 through December 2022. 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/58LvmeYkCN">pic.twitter.com/58LvmeYkCN</a>
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) <a href="https://x.com/SenRandPaul/status/2081093786185171131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2026</a></blockquote>

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Holds News Briefing At White House

New Fauci Diaries Reveal Celebrity Obsession At Height Of COVID Crisis

News

Science

Virus

Bland Mugshot

We Investigated The Insane Loophole That Lets Killers Walk Free

Asylums

Precious Bland

SCOTUS

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) has subpoenaed Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, escalating a yearslong battle over the federal government&#8217;s handling of the COVID pandemic and the origins of the virus.
Paul announced Monday that he issued the subpoena after Fauci allegedly backed out of an agreement to voluntarily appear before the committee.
&#8220;Last week, Anthony Fauci notified us he will NOT voluntarily testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, even though he had previously agreed to do so,&#8221; Paul <a href="https://x.com/RandPaul/status/2069168695398588521">wrote on X</a>. &#8220;Therefore, today I have issued a subpoena requiring him to testify before the Committee, in public, next month.&#8221;
The subpoena is the first issued by Paul since taking over as chairman of the committee, which granted its chairman unilateral subpoena authority last year.
Speaking to <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/06/23/2026/why-rand-paul-subpoenaed-fauci">Semafor</a>, Paul said months of negotiations with Fauci ultimately broke down after the former public health official agreed to appear and then reversed course.
&#8220;He&#8217;s been slow-walking information to us for six months or more,&#8221; Paul said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been negotiating over the date for several months. He agreed, then he said he wouldn&#8217;t. So, I think it&#8217;s time that we bring him in.&#8221;
Paul indicated that lawmakers intend to question Fauci about several issues, including his presidential pardon, allegations regarding federally funded gain-of-function research, and accusations that records related to the government&#8217;s pandemic response were destroyed.
&#8220;I think there&#8217;s a lot to discuss,&#8221; Paul said.
The subpoena marks the latest chapter in one of Washington&#8217;s most contentious post-pandemic rivalries.
Throughout the post-COVID era, Paul <a href="https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/media/reps/senator-rand-paul-re-refers-dr-anthony-fauci-to-the-department-of-justice/">repeatedly</a> sparred with Fauci during Senate hearings, accusing him of misleading Congress about U.S.-funded research connected to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Fauci consistently denied claims that the National Institutes of Health funded gain-of-function research that could have created the virus responsible for the pandemic.
As evidence supporting the lab leak theory gained credibility in recent years, Paul intensified his criticism, arguing that Fauci and other public health officials worked to dismiss legitimate questions about the virus&#8217; origins.
The Kentucky senator has previously called for Fauci to face criminal charges, <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5936032-rand-paul-subpoena-anthony-fauci-covid-19/">alleging</a> that he lied to Congress under oath regarding gain-of-function research funding. &#8220;We&#8217;ve been negotiating with him for material and for testimony. This has gone on for some time,&#8221; Paul said during a Tuesday interview. &#8220;He slow walked us and slow walked us. Finally agreed to come in voluntarily &#8230; then last week he says he&#8217;s not coming in.&#8221;
&#8220;With this subpoena power, we will bring him in, unless he fights this in court,&#8221; Paul added.
The move comes as congressional Republicans continue investigating the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government&#8217;s pandemic response, issues that remain politically potent years after lockdowns, vaccine mandates, school closures, and other emergency measures reshaped American life.
Fauci has not yet publicly responded to the subpoena. If he declines to comply, the dispute could trigger a legal battle testing the scope of Congress&#8217; oversight authority and Paul&#8217;s new subpoena powers as committee chairman.

rand paul fauci

Rand Paul Issues First Subpoena Of Long Senate Career — For Tony Fauci

Anthony Fauci pushed American intelligence officials to steer questions about the origins of COVID, according to dozens of new documents declassified by outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. 
On her last day in the Trump administration, Gabbard <a href="https://www.odni.gov/files/documents/Newsroom/Reports%20and%20Pubs/COVID-19_Release_DNI_Gabbard_6-18_Index.pdf">published</a> 67 new documents and emails showing Fauci’s involvement with the Intelligence Community’s probe of the origins of COVID. Gabbard also said she found proof of retaliation against intelligence officials who advocated for the now widely-accepted lab leak hypothesis of COVID over the natural origin pushed by Fauci.
“I&#8217;m releasing never before seen communications and documents that expose exactly how Fauci worked with politicized career leadership in the intelligence community to suppress the truth about his actions, the virus&#8217;s lab leak origins, and his role in directing U.S. funding for this dangerous research that caused immeasurable harm and countless lost lives,” Gabbard said in a video posted Thursday night. 
Gabbard added that “the intelligence community almost always incorporated Fauci&#8217;s recommendations.”
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One email from July 13, 2021, showed Intelligence Community investigators discussing how “Dr. Fauci recommended that the IC reach out to the below individuals,” appearing to refer to the authors of a paper pushing the claim that COVID had a natural origin. 
In reply on July 14, 2021, from an unidentified intelligence official, the person claimed Fauci knew “who the real Coronavirus experts are.” 
“In this particular case, given Dr Fauci’s background we absolutely would like to follow-up on his outreach suggestions. In this case he’s not a policymaker … he’s a [Subject Matter Expert] with a wealth of knowledge about current and historical research who probably knows better than most who the real Coronavirus experts are.” 
The unclassified documents reveal that Fauci met with the CIA’s Weapons and Counterproliferation Mission Center on June 4, 2021, where they discussed the origins of COVID and he pushed them to continue going down the natural origin path and encouraged them to contact advocates who thought the virus had a “natural origin.” 
This raises questions about Fauci’s testimony in 2024 when he was vague with lawmakers about his interactions with the Intelligence Community. 
“I can&#8217;t give you the specifics of it,” Fauci <a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg55830/html/CHRG-118hhrg55830.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com">replied</a> before pivoting to discussions of anthrax when asked if he had spoken to any U.S. intelligence agency about viral research before, during, or after the COVID-19 pandemic. 
“Politicized, self-serving leaders, like Dr. Fauci, covered up their own wrongdoing and abuses of power, manipulated intelligence, lied to Congress, and undermined a duly elected president by restricting his access to the vital facts he needed to keep the country safe. It&#8217;s time you know the truth,” Gabbard said. 
In response to the release of the documents, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) suggested that he would take further action based on the new information. 
“This release includes additional documents revealing the truth about the lab-leak origins and Fauci’s lies to Congress under oath. I’ve referred Fauci to the DOJ MULTIPLE times for criminal prosecution over his web of lies. Thank you, Director Gabbard,” Paul said. “More to come.”
During his final days in office, President Joe Biden issued a blanket pardon to Fauci to preempt any criminal investigation.

MixCollage-19-Jun-2026-07-30-AM-7354

The Fauci Files Tulsi Says They Never Wanted You To See

Tulsi Gabbard

This piece is part of MI x DW, a collaboration that brings Daily Wire readers exclusive commentary and research from the Manhattan Institute’s world-class team of scholars.
***
American 13-year-olds read no better than teenagers in 1971.
That is the conclusion of the latest <a href="https://www.nagb.gov/news-and-events/news-releases/2026/ltt-results-released-061026.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)</a> long-term trend exam, the only national test the federal government has administered in the same form for more than half a century. After decades of reform efforts, new technologies, and a more-than-doubling of inflation-adjusted spending per student, our students are no better off.
Many will blame COVID-19. That was the dominant explanation when the last round of long-term trend results was released in 2022 and 2023. NAEP even saw fit to put it in the title: <a href="https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/highlights/ltt/2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;Reading and mathematics scores decline during the COVID-19 pandemic.&#8221;</a>
But that is the wrong takeaway. The decline didn&#8217;t begin with the pandemic. It began around 2012. Reading and math scores for 13-year-olds fell significantly between 2012 and 2020, and the 2020 test was finished before the pandemic shut down a single school. COVID accelerated the decline, but did not cause it.
The most important finding is not that average scores fell, but who fell.
For years, national averages hid a widening divide. The strongest students held their ground, while the weakest fell further behind. Among 13-year-olds, the gap between the highest and lowest quarter of students exceeds 50 points across both reading and math. That gap had been widening well before the pandemic.
The lowest-income 13-year-olds, the ones for whom reading is the best way out of poverty, still read below their 2012 level, 24 points behind their wealthier peers. Math is no better: they&#8217;ve fallen 16 points since 2012 and sit 31 points behind their peers. Neither subject improved between 2023 and 2025.
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This began back in 2012, when the <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2012/02/09/everything-you-need-know-waivers-flexibility-and-reforming-no-child-left-behind/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Obama administration began allowing states</a> to opt out of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/house-bill/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">No Child Left Behind.</a> The law was unpopular and not perfect, but it forced schools to report results separately for poor, black, and Hispanic students. And it made schools face consequences — including replacing staff, removing the principal, or having the state take over the school — when any group fell behind. The waivers ultimately removed those consequences for 40 states, though the reporting remained. <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/1177" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Congress then made</a> the retreat from accountability permanent in 2015, with broad support from both parties.
No national assessment can prove that No Child Left Behind caused the gains of the 2000s or that its rollback caused the declines that followed. But the timing is hard to ignore. The largest gains came when schools were required to report results for their poorest students and be held accountable for them. The decline set in after that requirement was lifted, and the students it was meant to protect are the ones still furthest from recovery.
Washington&#8217;s answer wasn&#8217;t to restore accountability. It was just to spend.
Congress spent <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-24-106913" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$190 billion</a> to help schools recover from the pandemic, more than the federal government has ever spent on K-12 schools at once. The deadline to spend it <a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/naep-scores-2024-education-covid-lockdowns-tests-schools-67dfbcac" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed in 2024</a>. For 9-year-olds, the money did bring progress, but those students are only back to where they were before the pandemic. For 13-year-olds, the money bought nothing. Their scores are exactly where they were two years ago.
Lately, the blame game has shifted to screens. American Federation of Teachers President <a href="https://www.aft.org/press-release/devices-down-eyes-hands-weingarten-calls-screen-bans-ai-limits-active-learning-major" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Randi Weingarten</a> recently pointed to devices as a major reason students are behind academically. She has a point. The share of 13-year-olds who read for fun almost every day has fallen by half since 2012, from 27% to 14%, and has remained at that level since 2023.
But screens cannot fully explain these results. Every state faces the same digital culture. Students everywhere carry the same distractions in their pockets. Yet some states keep outperforming the rest.
Smartphones and Chromebooks made teaching harder, but they didn&#8217;t make it impossible.
The more persuasive explanation is that schools became less focused on ensuring that their weakest students learned to read and do math. For one decade, Washington <a href="https://manhattan.institute/article/the-nations-report-card-is-out-heres-what-the-results-tell-us-about-americas-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">required schools to answer for their weakest students.</a> That decade coincided with some of the largest achievement gains ever recorded, especially among disadvantaged students. As <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">education moves to the states</a>, the few exceptions to national declines are the states that measure every student, publish the results, and ensure accountability.
Washington didn&#8217;t lose track of its lowest performers. It just signed more than 40 waivers excusing itself from looking. This week, we learned what over a decade of not looking costs.
***
Jennifer Weber is a fellow for K-12 Education Policy at the Manhattan Institute.

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