U.S. Sen. Johnson: Senators Johnson, Paul release initial texts from Dr. Fauci’s government iPhone

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released one of the text chain messages obtained from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government-issued cellphone which was produced by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on August 5, 2026, in response to Chairman Johnson’s request. 

The phone contains more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails. Oddly, only three contacts are listed; all other text messages are identified only with phone numbers rather than contact names. It is too early to determine whether any data has been deleted.

To protect the privacy of individuals with whom Dr. Fauci communicated, as well as personal messages unrelated to the public health issues he was involved in, it will take time to carefully review the large volume of information the senators received. Chairman Johnson, Chairman Paul, and their staffs will work diligently and cooperatively to release relevant information to the public as soon as possible.

The text chain released today could have an immediate impact of public health and the principle of informed consent. The text chain below is between Anthony Fauci, Rochelle Walensky, and Vivek Murthy dated from January 25-26, 2021; in the chain they discuss pregnant women and the COVID-19 injection.

A key text in the chain is from Dr. Fauci:

Additional texts from the conversation can be found here.

Below are public statements made by federal health officials regarding their recommendations to pregnant women and a rebuttal by Dr. James Thorp OB/GYN to a Shimabukuro et al paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Feb. 3, 2021 – NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci: “[FDA] have found thus far and we have to be careful but thus far no red flags about that, about pregnant women.”

Aug. 11, 2021 – CDC’s Sascha Ellington: “We are not seeing a signal of safety concerns of the vaccine in pregnancy … This vaccine can prevent Covid-19, and so that’s the primary benefit.”

Aug. 30, 2021 – NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci: “Well, are the vaccines safe?” … “10s and 10s and 10s of thousands of women who have been followed by the CDC, who have been vaccinated when they were pregnant, there’s no indication whatsoever that there’s any increase of any adverse issues in a pregnant woman who was vaccinated compared to a pregnant woman who wasn’t vaccinated … it’s pretty clear that pregnant women should get vaccinated.”

Sept. 29, 2021 – CDC Director Rochelle Walensky: “CDC strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination either before or during pregnancy because the benefits of vaccination outweigh known or potential risks,” the agency said in a health alert … Walensky told a White House COVID-19 briefing that studies show COVID-19 vaccines are safe for pregnant women.  

Feb. 1, 2022 – Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy: “It’s all the more important for you to get vaccinated if you are pregnant or if you are trying to become pregnant … The data points show that the vaccines are safe during these various stages before and during pregnancy … They found generally that anytime during your pregnancy is actually fine [to get the vaccine], and that’s why the recommendation is just to get it.”

Jan. 12, 2022 – Dr. James A Thorp, OB/GYN and maternal-fetal medicine specialist published an open letter to the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology with the following critique of the Shimabukuro et al June 17, 2021 paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine. He argued that because 700 of the 827 pregnant women in the study received their COVID-19 injection in the third trimester (after 28 weeks), those 700 should be excluded from the denominator used to calculate a 12.6% (104/827) spontaneous abortion rate (defined as occurring before 20 weeks). The actual spontaneous abortion rate would then be 82% (104/127).