Fauci scandal grows as top House committee accuses Biden Cabinet official of hiding COVID diary

FIRST ON FOX: Dr.

Anthony Fauci's woes on Capitol Hill are far from over after his contentious Senate hearing late last month.

The House Oversight Committee is now questioning why Fauci's COVID-19 pandemic-era diary and cellphone were not turned over to Congress before this year, and it is placing the blame on former President Joe Biden's top health official.

In a letter sent Monday, Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., highlighted a November 2023 request by House Republicans for former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, a California gubernatorial candidate, to produce any records from Fauci containing the words "COVID-19," "gain-of-function," and "Wuhan." EXCLUSIVE: BIDEN PARDON WON'T SHIELD FAUCI IF HE LIES TO CONGRESS, COMER SAYS "These terms, among others outlined in the document request, appear throughout Dr.

Fauci’s diary.

Despite the existence of this clearly relevant and responsive information, you failed to include any portion of Dr.

Fauci’s diary in your response, let alone even acknowledge its existence," Comer wrote.

"The Committee is concerned that you either intentionally withheld this information, or that you failed to conduct an adequate search of the Department’s systems as requested in the November 2, 2023, letter." FAUCI HELD IN CONTEMPT AS COVID CELLPHONE LANDS IN HANDS OF SENATE INVESTIGATORS Current HHS Secretary Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. turned over Fauci's COVID-era diary and cellphone to Sens.

Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., earlier this year.

The diary in particular caused an uproar among Fauci's critics, who accused him of gloating about his influence and celebrity during the pandemic at a time when millions of Americans were grappling with a slew of government regulations.

FAUCI'S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED More than 1,000 pages released to the public showed insight into Fauci's private thoughts as pandemic science rapidly evolved, as well as entries of the longtime public health official mulling over his newfound fame.

Fauci told the Oversight Committee's now-defunct pandemic subcommittee in June 2024, "The CDC was responsible for those kinds of guidelines to schools, not me," when discussing measures like the six-foot distancing rule that played a major role in keeping schools closed across the country.

Multiple diary entries suggest Fauci at least discussed school closures with political leaders.