Staff Reports
One short sentence in a screenshot now rocking the COVID bureaucracy says more than a thousand press briefings ever did: “I’m sending this via text messaging to avoid any FOIA issues.” If that line really came from Michael T. Osterholm and was pulled from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s government phone, it isn’t a gaffe — it’s an admission. And it raises one simple question: who ordered the memo that government business should be kept out of the public record?
What the screenshot actually shows
The screenshot shared by an investigative reporter claims to show Michael T. Osterholm, Director of CIDRAP at the University of Minnesota, texting members of the Biden administration’s COVID inner circle. The text not only admits the channel was chosen to dodge FOIA, it also argues that cloth face coverings offered limited protection while N‑95 respirators were what really mattered. The image is said to come from a government‑issued phone tied to Dr. Anthony Fauci and was obtained by Senator Chuck Grassley from HHS. If authenticated, that single line about avoiding FOIA turns routine pandemic chatter into evidence worth following.
Why “avoiding FOIA” is not a casual slip
Federal record rules are blunt: agency business belongs in the record. NARA guidance makes clear that messages sent or received in the course of government work are federal records, even if they route through texts or third‑party apps. So “I’m sending this via text messaging to avoid any FOIA issues” isn’t casual bragging — it’s a potential red flag for willful record avoidance. The Justice Department has already shown interest in related conduct earlier this year, when investigators pursued alleged use of non‑official accounts to hide records. This screenshot, if real, adds more fuel to that inquiry.
Congress and investigators should stop treating screenshots like social media gossip
Republican senators have released earlier batches of messages from Fauci’s government device, but a lone screenshot is only a starting point. The public needs the full exports, timestamps, metadata and chains of replies — not cherry‑picked images. HHS and NARA should confirm whether these texts were preserved in the official system, and DOJ should decide whether the conduct was a records management failure or something worse. No more shrugging: if officials ran pandemic policy through off‑record channels, there must be subpoenas, audits and accountability. This isn’t a private group chat — it was federal policy making that affected millions.
Bottom line
Whether the screenshot proves criminal intent is for investigators and prosecutors to determine. But the politics and the ethics are plain: government officials must not hide their work to avoid FOIA. Americans deserve the full truth about what their public health leaders knew, who advised them, and why the official guidance often looked different from the private playbook. If the “send-by-text-to-avoid-FOIA” line checks out, those responsible should answer for it — not hide behind another euphemism about “communication channels.” Transparency isn’t optional, and this story should force the record‑keepers to open their books.
