Sen. Marshall demands special counsel probe of Fauci after vaccine texts surface

Sen. Roger Marshall is calling for a special counsel investigation into Dr. Anthony Fauci after newly released text messages show the former COVID czar privately raised miscarriage concerns about the vaccine, weeks before publicly declaring it safe for pregnant women.

Marshall, a Kansas Republican and retired obstetrician, appeared on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday to lay out his case. The texts, sent from Fauci's government-issued phone in January 2021, show him warning colleagues that the second dose of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine could theoretically trigger miscarriages in the first trimester. By the following month, Fauci was on CBS News telling the public there were "no red flags" for pregnant women who had received the shot.

That gap between what Fauci said privately and what he told millions of Americans is now at the center of a growing push on Capitol Hill for accountability, and Marshall wants it handled outside Congress.

Fauci's January 2021 texts flagged a risk he later dismissed on camera

The text messages were released by Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul, who obtained Fauci's government iPhone. The device held more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails, Breitbart reported. The first batch made public zeroes in on a conversation among Fauci, former CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy about vaccine safety during pregnancy.

In a message dated January 25, 2021, Fauci wrote to the group:

"I asked around a bit more and another issue came up that you need to be aware of. Since many people have significant cytokines storm and fever after the 2nd dose, this theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester."

A cytokine storm is a severe immune overreaction that can cause high fever and widespread inflammation, a known risk after the second mRNA dose. Fauci was telling two of the most powerful public health officials in the country that this reaction could, in theory, cause pregnant women to lose their babies in the earliest weeks of pregnancy.

Walensky agreed. The Washington Examiner reported that she responded to Fauci's text by writing, "Definitely a good point, esp after dose two." Murthy was also part of the exchange.

Yet on February 3, 2021, barely a week later, Fauci went on CBS News and offered a strikingly different message. Fox News reported that he told the network:

"With thousands of women who are pregnant, having gotten the vaccine following the EUA [emergency use authorization], there have been no red flags of anything that anyone would be worried about."

Later in 2021, Fauci went further, publicly urging pregnant women and those planning to become pregnant to get vaccinated. "There are severe adverse outcomes for mother and baby during COVID-19 infection," he said. "Therefore, it is extremely important for pregnant women and women planning to get pregnant to get vaccinated."

The contrast is stark. In private, Fauci flagged a theoretical link between the vaccine and first-trimester miscarriage. In public, he told pregnant women there was nothing to worry about, and pressed them to get the shot. The two top health officials copied on his private warning said nothing to contradict his public assurances.

Marshall says Congress alone cannot hold Fauci accountable

Marshall has clashed with Fauci for years, over COVID-19 origins, pandemic policies, and vaccine guidance, both as a senator and as a physician. But on Tuesday, he argued that congressional hearings have hit a wall.

The Senate Health Committee has already referred Fauci to the Justice Department for investigation. And in prior congressional proceedings, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times, according to Marshall, a figure that underscores the limits of legislative oversight when a witness refuses to answer.

Marshall told Fox News that a special counsel would change the equation:

"[A special counsel has] subpoena power. They can have an independent investigation, and then they can prosecute as well."

He also floated the idea of a 9/11-style commission, a bipartisan investigative body with broader authority than a single committee. Either path, Marshall acknowledged, ultimately rests with the attorney general.

His frustration was plain. "All Congress can do is expose the truth or try to expose the truth," Marshall said, "which is hard to do when a guy takes the 5th 111 times."

34,000 texts and a study Fauci approved despite his own doubts

The January 2021 messages are only the first batch from Fauci's phone. Johnson signaled that more releases are coming. "While I've been conducting oversight for years, now that we have the documents and Fauci's government-issued phone, my investigation has only just begun," the Wisconsin Republican said, Just the News reported.

Johnson's office asserted that the text chain could have "an immediate impact of public health and the principle of informed consent", a pointed reference to the question of whether pregnant women were given honest information before rolling up their sleeves.

The Washington Examiner added another layer: after privately raising miscarriage concerns, Fauci approved a clinical study, the NIAID-sponsored MOMI-VAX trial, examining vaccine effects on pregnant and postpartum women. He greenlit the study even as he publicly acknowledged a lack of strong clinical data on vaccine safety for that population. In other words, Fauci knew the data was thin, said so in private, and told the public the opposite.

The Senate committee's contempt vote against Fauci for his repeated Fifth Amendment invocations already signaled that lawmakers believed he was stonewalling. The text messages now give that suspicion a concrete foundation: there was something behind the silence.

A pattern of private doubt and public certainty

This is not the first time Fauci's private communications have contradicted his public posture. Declassified documents released by Tulsi Gabbard alleged that Fauci misled Congress and steered intelligence agencies away from the lab-leak theory of COVID-19's origins. His personal COVID diaries, obtained separately, painted a picture of a public health leader preoccupied with celebrity while Americans died by the thousands.

And the broader pattern extends beyond Fauci himself. Slack messages released by Sen. Paul showed that the authors of a key paper on COVID-19's origins privately doubted their own published conclusions, another case of public certainty masking private uncertainty during the pandemic.

Fauci's law firm was contacted by Fox News Digital about the text messages. It did not immediately respond.

The New York Post noted that lawmakers are now actively comparing Fauci's private conversations with his public statements from the vaccine rollout, a process that, with 34,000 messages still largely unreviewed, is only beginning.

What a special counsel could do that Congress cannot

Marshall's call matters because it names the structural problem. Congressional committees can subpoena witnesses and hold hearings, but they cannot prosecute. They can refer cases to the Justice Department, which the Senate Health Committee has already done. But a referral is a request, not an indictment. The DOJ can act on it or ignore it.

A special counsel, by contrast, operates with independent authority. The counsel can issue subpoenas, compel testimony, convene a grand jury, and bring criminal charges. For a witness who has invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times, that distinction is not academic.

Marshall acknowledged that the attorney general holds the key. Whether a special counsel is appointed, or whether a 9/11-style commission gains traction, depends on decisions that have not yet been made. But the senator's argument is that the evidence now demands something more than hearings that a witness can stonewall.

The question facing the Justice Department is straightforward: Did the nation's top infectious disease official tell the public one thing about vaccine safety for pregnant women while privately warning colleagues of the opposite? And if so, what are the consequences?

Millions of pregnant women trusted Anthony Fauci's public word. They deserved to know what he was saying behind closed doors, and someone with real authority ought to find out why they didn't.