Open letter defends Fauci ahead of compelled congressional testimony
More than 155 scientists, physicians and public health advocates signed an open letter Tuesday calling on the Trump administration to stop what they described as the “vilification and harassment of many American scientists,” one day before former top U.S. government science adviser Anthony Fauci is scheduled to testify before a Republican-controlled Senate committee.
The letter was published ahead of a Wednesday hearing where Fauci, 85, will testify under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), is investigating the origins of the Covid-19 virus and whether federal officials, including Fauci, misled the public and Congress about the source of the outbreak.
Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for 38 years before leaving the federal government in 2022. He helped guide the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The letter accuses the Trump administration and its congressional allies of “waging a war on individual scientists, through public harassment, arrests, criminal indictment and ongoing threats of prosecution.” The signatories said several scientists have come under scrutiny, but they argued that “the most prominent target of the administration and its allies” is Fauci.
“The charges against Dr Fauci are baseless, suggesting he covered up the origins of Covid, that he bribed or persuaded other scientists to join his cover-up, that NIAID-funded research sparked the pandemic, that he personally holds patents on the virus, and that he’s working with intelligence agencies to suppress the true story of the pandemic,” the letter states. “No credible evidence has been produced to support these absurd charges.”
The letter notes that the allegations have led to a “five-year period of harassment and threats of violence directed at Dr Fauci and his family.”
“Now, this month, he is being subpoenaed by Congress once again,” the letter continues. “In over 60 years of public service, Dr Fauci has led the United States through epidemics of HIV and Covid, through outbreaks of Ebola and Sars 1, and through the 2001 anthrax attacks. He has worked tirelessly to advance science and protect the public’s health.”
The letter concludes: “As the congressional hearings targeting Dr Fauci approach, we are urging our elected representatives in Congress stop these witch-hunts and support good public health and scientific practices so that America’s leadership in innovation remains secure.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Paul released thousands of pages of Fauci’s diary entries from during the Covid-19 pandemic, which showed Fauci’s efforts to manage and address the pandemic, navigate his relationship with then-President Donald Trump, and reflect on his public profile and media image.
Fauci has said that research has “strongly suggested” that the coronavirus most likely emerged through natural origins, likely from animal-to-human transmission. He has insisted he keeps a “completely open mind” about other possibilities, including the theory that the virus may have leaked from a lab in China in 2019, and has denied allegations by some Republican lawmakers, including Paul, that he sought to suppress that theory.
Before Trump returned to office in 2025, former President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon to Fauci and other senior officials. Despite the pardon, Paul has referred Fauci to the Department of Justice for “potential criminal prosecution,” according to the letter’s source material.