FBI Director Kash Patel revealed to the eponymous host of "The Joe Rogan Experience" in the episode published Friday that the bureau "just had a great breakthrough" regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, a matter into which the FBI apparently has multiple ongoing investigations.
The FBI director noted that this "breakthrough" specifically has to do with Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases whom the White House has accused of helping cover up the likely lab origins of COVID-19 and whose name Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and congressional investigators recently batted around when discussing lies about gain-of-function research.
Patel noted that the FBI long sought the phones and devices Fauci used while he was serving in the first Trump administration during the pandemic, "and nobody had found it — till two days ago."
While the director cautioned Rogan and his audience from jumping "to the conclusion [that] everything's in there," he said the bureau will "look at it, we'll pull it — we'll rip it, as we say."
Patel intimated that where potentially incriminating material is concerned, "maybe it's deleted, maybe it's not, but at least we found it."
When asked about the potential significance of the discovery of such devices and what investigators should look for, molecular biologist Dr. Richard H. Ebright of Rutgers University, a leading critic of Fauci's flirtations with gain-of-function research, told Blaze News, "Fauci violated federal policies on gain-of-function and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research, committed conspiracy to defraud and perjury, used federal funds to commit crimes, and caused and covered up the cause of a pandemic that killed 20 million and cost $25 trillion."
The World Health Organization claims that there have been cumulatively over 7 million reported COVID-19 deaths. However, the Economist's machine-learning model estimated that the total number of excess deaths globally is two to four times higher than the reported number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths, which could the put deaths far in excess of 20 million souls.
Ebright was among the prominent scientists who last year sought accountability over efforts to cure the origin narrative and demanded the retraction of "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2," published by Nature Medicine on March 17, 2020 — a consequential paper that Fauci not only allegedly commissioned and approved but used on multiple occasions to push the zoonotic origin theory.
"If files relevant to Fauci's roles in causing COVID and covering up the cause of COVID are recoverable from Fauci's phones or devices, those files could be of value in documenting the cause and the cover-up and in prosecuting persons culpable for the cause and the cover-up," Ebright told Blaze News. "Examples of relevant files would include files documenting Fauci's correspondence with scientists whose research caused COVID, correspondence with scientists, science administrators, and other federal agency officials who helped Fauci cover up the cause of COVID, and correspondence documenting Fauci's use of non-government email accounts and phone lines for government business."
Blaze News reached out to the FBI for comment and clarification but did not receive a response before publication.
'Clearly he was being deceptive.'
Rogan asked Patel whether the pardons doled out in former President Joe Biden's name would spare Fauci from accountability over his misleading claim to Congress that "the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology."
There is, after all, a great deal of interest in Congress in holding Fauci accountable over his apparent lie to Congress in 2021 that the NIH never funded gain-of-function research.
For instance, Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Matt Kibbe, the host of BlazeTV's docuseries "The Coverup," that he had referred Fauci to the Department of Justice for prosecution three times over his statements.
"We've detailed his lies to Congress, which are a felony. I've sort of tragically and jokingly said, 'If he were a member of the Trump administration, he would have been arrested long ago.' Because I think we have two standards of justice," Paul told Kibbe. "He certainly seems to be protected."
"Clearly he was being deceptive," Rogan said to Patel. "Are they pardoned for that as well? 'Cause it was like this crazy blanket pardon from 2014 forward, which I didn't even know you could do."
On Jan. 20, Fauci received a "full and unconditional" pre-emptive pardon for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research.
"So I'm the investigator. So that would be a decision for the Department of Justice," said Patel. "We'll work it up and we'll say, 'This is what we found,' and then legal minds will have to come in and chop on, 'Does this pardon apply or not?'"
While Fauci may presently enjoy an immunity shield from prosecution on account of his last-minute pardon, that pardon now faces a great deal of scrutiny.
RELATED: Who was president these last four years? We deserve an answer
President Donald Trump declared in March that the pardons were "VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT."
DOJ pardon attorney Ed Martin announced last month that he is reviewing the questionable "autopen" pardons issued in the final days of the Biden White House, noting that they "need some scrutiny." The House Oversight Committee is also investigating autopen use in the Biden White House.
Even if Fauci's pardon holds up, information gleaned by the FBI from the alleged devices could possibly be used in legal actions taken at the state level.
In February, over 16 state attorneys general launched an investigation into Fauci's role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, "demanding accountability for alleged mismanagement, misleading statements, and suppression of scientific debate."
The state AGs underscored in their letter to Congress that the "pardon by former President Biden does not extend to preclude state-level investigations or legal proceedings."
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Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said that the investigation into the coronavirus pandemic isn't done with Anthony Fauci, after new revelations about laboratory funding.
Paul made the comments in an interview with Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck on his radio show Wednesday. The senator said that the change of guard at the Department of Health and Human Services meant new evidence was being produced from the pandemic era.
'It is our belief that Anthony Fauci had to sign the document. We haven't found the document yet because they've either been hidden or destroyed.'
"Is anyone going to pay for the COVID thing?" asked Beck.
“We’re not done, and I will bring Anthony Fauci back in. We’ve finally discovered the records as to who determined that the money went to Wuhan," Paul responded.
"They have resisted me for three years. Robert Kennedy has helped me get the records. So has Jay Bhattacharya. This week or next week I'm gonna begin interviewing the people that are on that committee. We're gonna find out what was the debate, what was the discussion, what were the arguments for sending it to Wuhan, what were the arguments against it," he added.
"Who made the arguments? And then who ultimately had to sign off on this? It is our belief that Anthony Fauci had to sign the document. We haven't found the document yet because they've either been hidden or destroyed," Paul said.
"There will be hell to pay," he concluded ominously.
Paul's feud with Fauci has manifested in numerous rhetorical skirmishes that erupted during congressional hearings. Fauci was the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until 2022. He was responsible for the U.S. health response to the AIDS epidemic, as well as the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2021, Fauci and Paul traded blows over whether the nation's top epidemiologist had lied to Congress when testifying that he had not signed off on funding for controversial gain-of-function research. Many believe the risky studies might have been responsible for a laboratory leak theorized to be the source of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Dr. Fauci, as you are aware it is a crime to lie to Congress," Paul said at the time. "On your last trip to our committee on May 11, you stated that the NIH 'has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.' And yet, gain-of-function research was done entirely in the Wuhan Institute by Dr. Shi and was funded by the NIH."
Fauci and Paul went back and forth in debate over the evidence.
"Sen. Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you're referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain-of-function," Fauci replied.
"Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially," Fauci angrily declared. "You do not know what you are talking about."
Fauci retired from his office and was pardoned by former President Joe Biden pre-emptively against any politically motivated charges that might be filed by the Trump administration. Some have since cast doubt on whether Biden had the mental capacity to sign the pardon and wondered if others falsified the signing.
“There WILL be hell to pay.” @RandPaul gives a fiery update on COVID investigations: “We’re not done, and I WILL bring Anthony Fauci back in. We’ve finally discovered the records as to who determined that the money went to Wuhan.” pic.twitter.com/MwVft0se7h
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) May 14, 2025
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Ed Martin, the incoming Department of Justice pardon attorney and director of the DOJ's Weaponization Working Group, announced Tuesday that he will review the rash of questionable "autopen" pardons issued in the final days of the Biden White House, noting that they "need some scrutiny."
"They need scrutiny because we want pardons to matter, and to be accepted, and to be something that's used correctly. So I do think we're going to take a hard look at how they went and what they did," Martin told reporters.
The Justice Department's probe could spell trouble for controversial Biden pardonees such as Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the Biden clan, and former members of the House Jan. 6 select committee — including Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), and Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), whom President Donald Trump and other Republicans have faulted for various alleged crimes and improprieties.
For instance, Trump has suggested that Milley may have committed "treason." While previously serving as Trump's most senior uniformed adviser, Milley called his communist Chinese counterpart, communist Gen. Li Zuocheng, on two occasions — four days before the 2020 election and on Jan. 8, 2021 — to reassure Zuocheng that he would provide him with actionable warnings should Trump decide to attack. Milley received a pardon just hours before former President Joe Biden left office.
Fauci, the fifth director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, received a "full and unconditional" pass for possible federal crimes going back to Jan. 1, 2014 — around the time the Obama administration supposedly halted funding for dangerous gain-of-function research.
In February, over 16 state attorneys general launched an investigation into Fauci's role in the COVID-19 pandemic response, "demanding accountability for alleged mismanagement, misleading statements, and suppression of scientific debate." Without his autopen pardon, Fauci would be legally exposed at both the state and federal levels.
"The American people were promised accountability, and I think Ed Martin is our best shot at it," Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, told Blaze News. "These pardons are fake and invalid, and the president has already said that is his view."
'There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people.'
"When these people, like the January 6 Committee and particularly Adam Schiff, are charged and try defending their bogus pardon, then we will start to learn who was really running the White House," continued Howell. "We need to answer the question everyone is asking: Who was running the government the last four years?"
Blaze News reached out to the DOJ for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Schiff also did not respond to a question about whether he would mind losing his pardon, given that he indicated in December he didn't want it in the first place.
RELATED: Trump declares Biden's 'autopen' pardons for J6 committee, Fauci, others are 'VOID'
In early March, the Oversight Project revealed that Biden's signature on numerous pardons, executive orders, and other documents of national consequence was likely machine-generated.
The watchdog group later confirmed "the same exact Biden autopen signature" was used on the pardons for Fauci, Milley, and members of the Jan. 6 committee, as well as on the pardons for several members of Biden's family who were apparently involved in dodgy foreign deals with the former president and his felonious son Hunter Biden.
— (@)
Biden's cognitive decline was already enough for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey (R) and others to question the legal legitimacy of pardons bearing his machine-printed signature; however, suspicions about the validity of the documents was compounded by reports of staffers and family members making decisions on Biden's behalf; evidence that his signature appeared on documents while he was on vacation; Biden's alleged admission to having no recollection of a consequential January 2024 order to pause decisions on exports of liquefied natural gas; and a former Biden aide's claim to the New York Post that a key staffer, who was not named, was suspected of unilaterally making decisions to sign documents as the former president's mental faculties declined.
"The prolific use of autopen by the Biden White House was an instrument to hide the truth from the American people as to who was running the government," Howell told Blaze News at the time.
RELATED: The Great Biden Book War has finally begun
President Donald Trump soon weighed in on the autopen controversy, declaring in a March 17 post on Truth Social that the "'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen. In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!"
"The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden," continue Trump. "He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime. Therefore, those on the Unselect Committee, who destroyed and deleted ALL evidence obtained during their two year Witch Hunt of me, and many other innocent people, should fully understand that they are subject to investigation at the highest level."
Martin suggested Tuesday that while the mere use of autopen is itself not necessarily an issue, "No one, I think, with the standard of ... reasonableness thinks that what Joe Biden did at the end of his term was particularly reasonable."
"There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people," continued Martin. "And if they can be charged, we'll charge them. But if they can't be charged, we will name them. ... And in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are shamed. And that's a fact. That's the way things work, and so that's how I believe the job operates."
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made blistering accusations against Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, regarding gain-of-function research.
During a Tuesday interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Kennedy accused Fauci of deliberately betraying a ban on bioweapon development and attempting to conceal his nefarious activities.
'There is no other way to receive this but @SecKennedy is accusing Fauci of crimes against humanity.'
On Monday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order restricting funding for overseas gain-of-function research, which many argue led to COVID-19.
"These measures will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology," a White House fact sheet read.
During this week's interview with Ingraham, Kennedy addressed the administration's recent actions to protect Americans from dangerous research and connected the dots on Fauci's involvement.
"Gain-of-function studies is the kind of science that is designed to make microbes and pathogens more virulent, more transmissible, and more deadly," Kennedy stated.
He explained that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies began gain-of-function research in 1947 to develop bioweapons. However, President Richard Nixon (R) banned the research in 1969, and the ban held through 2001 until the anthrax terrorist attack.
"After the anthrax attacks, Anthony Fauci began — essentially, restarted the arms race and the bioweapons arms race and did it under the pretension of developing vaccines. Because it's the same science they use to develop bioweapons and vaccines," Kennedy told Ingraham.
However, the research took a turn in 2014 when "three of [Fauci's] bugs escaped," he explained.
As a result, hundreds of scientists urged then-President Barack Obama to stop Fauci's research, Kennedy said.
"President Obama declared a moratorium, but instead of shutting down his experiments, [Fauci] moved them offshore, mainly to the Wuhan lab," he claimed. "And now the principal institutions are coming — the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, Department of Energy — all say that it is most likely that those experiments resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in 2019."
"So President Trump today moved to shut down this kind of research in this country and to stop funding it abroad," Kennedy added.
BlazeTV host and Blaze News columnist Steve Deace reacted to Kennedy's allegations against Fauci, calling for a Department of Justice referral.
"There is no other way to receive this but @SecKennedy is accusing Fauci of crimes against humanity. This is a direct accusation. Shouldn't this now be referred to DOJ for prosecution?" Deace wrote in a post on X.
In the days before leaving office, Biden issued Fauci a sweeping pardon "for any offense against the United States" since January 2014.
Fauci stepped down from his NIAID position in 2022 and now holds a "Distinguished University Professor" position with the School of Medicine's Department of Medicine at Georgetown University.
Neither Fauci nor Georgetown University responded to a request for comment from Blaze News.
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Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order banning federal funding for gain-of-function research abroad, particularly in countries like China and Iran, deemed to have insufficient research oversight. The order also pauses certain domestic research involving infectious pathogens and toxins until a safer, more transparent policy is developed. It aims to reduce the risk of lab-related incidents, like those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but doesn’t hinder U.S. innovation in biotechnology.
“This could be one of the most consequential things that Donald Trump will do in his entire presidency,” “Blaze News Tonight” host Jill Savage says.
“This is something that’s just pure justice that needed to be done to save this country from all the crap that we’ve been through in the last few years,” adds Blaze News editor in chief and co-host Matthew Peterson.
He notes that even President Obama, in response to concerns about biosafety risks following lab incidents, paused federal funding for certain gain-of-function research. Fauci, however, “thwarted Obama” and took his research abroad.
“Fauci was able to weasel his way out and continue this dangerous research throughout the world,” Peterson says. “This has to end,” and Trump’s executive order “is a great beginning.”
While it is certainly a good start, Jill points out the obvious next step: “We need people in Congress to step up to the plate.”
“In order to implement the mandate, you need Congress,” Peterson agrees, adding that sadly, “there isn’t a sense of urgency with a lot of these people.”
“Congress isn’t used to getting the job done,” he says. They like to “wait out the executive” and “slow roll things.”
That’s why it’s “vital that everyone out there start calling them and putting pressure on your congressmen.”
To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.
To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
The Trump administration has wasted no time completely revamping the COVID-19 narrative — and has now made it official on the White House website.
The website now has a COVID-19 section, which goes into great detail explaining “misinformation” related to the virus.
“Public health officials often mislead the American people through conflicting messaging, knee-jerk reactions, and a lack of transparency. Most egregiously, the federal government demonized alternative treatments and disfavored narratives, such as the lab leak theory, in a shameful effort to coerce and control the American people’s health decisions,” the website reads.
“When those efforts failed, the Biden Administration resorted to ‘outright censorship—coercing and colluding with the world’s largest social media companies to censor all COVID-19-related dissent,’” it continues.
The website also highlights that Anthony Fauci was given a full and unconditional pardon by former President Biden.
“It is so refreshing to see this White House,” Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” comments.
“I’m glad we all trusted the plan,” BlazeTV contributor John Doyle chimes in. “We were so angry when everyone started to realize what a sham this was, we were angry with Trump for promoting it, but I will say, I think that we get a little hindsight bias and forget how freaked out even Republicans, like older Republicans, were about COVID.”
“I would just say, their entire argument was ‘trust the experts.’ So if that’s their argument, then again, it’s Anthony Fauci’s fault, because Donald Trump was trusting the expert that they placed in front of him and said, ‘This is the guy,’” Gonzales says.
“So Donald Trump wasn’t in there in a lab with little droppers trying to figure things out; he was trusting the people that he was supposed to be able to trust,” she adds.
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On April 18, the White House publicly endorsed the COVID lab leak theory. The government’s official COVID website was also redirected to a new page titled “Lab Leak: The True Origins of COVID-19,” which contends that the virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, and was leaked by accident.
The revamped site criticizes Anthony Fauci, David Morens, Andrew Cuomo, the WHO, EcoHealth Alliance, and the Biden administration, among others, for actively promoting false information and covering up the truth.
It cites five points to support the lab leak claim:
1. “The virus possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature.”
2. “Data shows that all COVID-19 cases stem from a single introduction into humans. This runs contrary to previous pandemics where there were multiple spillover events.”
3. “Wuhan is home to China’s foremost SARS research lab, which has a history of conducting gain-of-function research (gene altering and organism supercharging) at inadequate biosafety levels.”
4. “Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) researchers were sick with COVID-like symptoms in the fall of 2019, months before COVID-19 was discovered at the wet market.”
5. “By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.”
After years of the Biden administration and his loyal media allies promoting a lie, it’s refreshing to see the government proclaim the truth.
But while Glenn Beck sees the website as “an amazing thing,” the information on it isn’t exactly news.
“Most of this stuff we had within six or eight months of the actual outbreak,” he says.
The real question is: “Who’s going to jail over this?”
The other question is: Why doesn’t the legacy media seem interested in correcting the narrative?
“Millions of people died here. You'd think that it would be something [the media] would focus on and draw a lot of attention to and continue to kind of beat the drum until someone was held responsible, and they don't seem to have any interest in that,” says co-host Stu Burguiere, noting that most of these outlets “have run an op-ed” about the lab leak theory and called it good.
“If we make a mistake, we correct it because it drives us crazy that we made the mistake, and I don’t want anybody to believe that I’m standing behind something that is wrong and a lie,” says Glenn.
The legacy media clearly doesn’t have the same convictions.
“They knowingly lied” about COVID, Joe Biden’s cognitive state, and Russiagate, and yet, “There’s no consequence.”
“They’re not going to lose any advertisers. The New York Times hasn't lost any real money because of this. Their people just continue to watch,” says Glenn.
To hear more of the conversation, watch the clip above.
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Apparently, the propaganda press has rediscovered its outrage over presidential pardons — now that President Donald Trump is issuing them. After watching then-President Joe Biden hand out pardons, clemency, and commutations like they were candy, the left-wing media have finally found their missing pearls to clutch. Trump pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, […]
While Anthony Fauci retired in 2022, his wife was recently laid off by cuts to Fauci’s former agency, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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