A key Senate investigative panel has obtained a copy of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government-issued cellphone from his time at the Department of Health and Human Services, adding a new development to the congressional investigation just as lawmakers prepare to vote on whether to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Fox News Digital confirmed that the pandemic-era iPhone was transferred from HHS to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

A spokesperson for Johnson told Fox News Digital that the subcommittee “obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s iPhone that was used during his time at HHS.”

It remains uncertain whether investigators have been able to access the contents of the device.

The phone’s transfer, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee prepares for a Thursday morning vote on whether Fauci should be held in contempt of Congress. The development also follows HHS’s recent release of more than 1,000 pages from Fauci’s personal diary to the committee only days before last week’s widely watched hearing.

The hearing was scheduled after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., subpoenaed Fauci to testify regarding his alleged involvement in funding what Paul has described as “risky” gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, where COVID-19 originated.

According to a source familiar with Paul’s office who spoke to Fox News Digital, the senator is also in possession of the cellphone.

The hearing had been expected to be the latest and most consequential confrontation between Paul and Fauci. Paul has repeatedly accused the former health official of misleading Congress and has argued that Fauci should face criminal penalties over his role in shaping the nation’s pandemic response.

Instead, Fauci declined to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on the advice of legal counsel.

“Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions,” Fauci said.

Republican members of the committee proceeded to question Fauci on a wide range of topics, including the theory that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory leak, as well as numerous other issues. Democrats defended Fauci’s decision to invoke his constitutional rights, arguing that doing so was appropriate given what they characterized as an effort by Paul and other Republicans to trap him into making potentially incriminating statements.

Following the hearing, Paul pledged that Fauci’s refusal to testify would have consequences and suggested the courts may ultimately have to determine whether the presidential pardon granted by Joe Biden shields him from further legal exposure.

“I think there’s another legal question that the courts may have to decide upon, and that is whether or not a presidential pardon offers you complete immunity,” Paul said at the time.

{Matzav.com}