FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican leading a dive into Dr. Anthony Fauci’s old government iPhone alleged that "career bureaucrats" within Fauci’s old agency are sabotaging the senator’s and others’ quest for information from the pandemic era.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told Fox News Digital that he believed longtime employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) were putting up roadblocks to his own probe and other information trawling expeditions pushed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
"Again, we don't know what we don’t know," Johnson said. "We don't know what HHS has. Bobby Kennedy doesn't know what HHS has."
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Johnson, along with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., received a copy of Fauci’s personal work phone from HHS as part of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s broader investigation into the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
On Monday, Johnson’s panel, the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released the first tranche of private messages found on the device, which included over 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails.
The first batch of texts, exchanged between Fauci and former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Vivek Murthy, who would become surgeon general under the Biden administration, revealed that Fauci had concerns about the effects of the second dose of mRNA vaccines on pregnant women in the first trimester.
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"I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of," Fauci wrote. "Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester."
The lawmaker believed that the revelation was just the "tip of the iceberg," but has remained cautious with his investigation and what information dumps come next, particularly to protect the personal information of others who may be included in the communications.
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He argued that releasing the first batch of texts was based on public health and safety concerns, said that Fauci’s concern "immediately impacts public safety, immediately impacts informed consent."
As he waded through the rest of the information on the phone, Johnson believed that there was more to find about the HHS’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and charged that even though Kennedy was at the helm, not even he had full knowledge of the information that could be lurking within the agency.
"I mean, fortunately, now we have Bobby Kennedy, I think gaining a little bit more control over the agency," Johnson said. "Remember, most of the people serving in these agencies have been there a long time, and they were involved in the cover-up. They were supposed to be surveilling for vaccine injuries and they weren’t."
"So, you know, Bobby Kennedy has people in those agencies sabotaging his efforts at radical transparency," he continued. "So this is like pulling teeth. So, I mean, I did not know they had government-issued phones. They've been sitting there, locked away somewhere."
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
