FBI Director Kash Patel has confirmed the bureau has seized Dr. Anthony Fauci’s communication devices amid a growing investigation into the former NIH chief’s actions during the pandemic.

“We just had a great breakthrough this week on Fauci,” Patel told podcaster Joe Rogan in an episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” released Friday, explaining the FBI had recovered phones used by Fauci early in the pandemic.

Patel disclosed that the seizure was part of an ongoing federal investigation into Fauci’s handling of COVID-19 policies, gain-of-function research funding, and alleged efforts to suppress dissenting scientific opinions.

“They had always been looking for phones and devices he used while he was back in Trump one [the first Trump administration] during COVID, and nobody had found it until two days ago.”

“Everybody listening to us shouldn’t jump to the conclusion [that] everything’s in there,” he added. “Maybe it’s deleted, maybe it’s not, but at least we found it, and at least now we can tell people that we have been looking because it is of public importance.”

President Trump and his allies have long accused Fauci of misleading the public on its handling of the pandemic and hiding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and causing millions of deaths.

Former President Biden granted Fauci an unprecdented preemptive pardon for his crimes before Trump took office in January, as part of an elaborate effort to shield Fauci from prosecution.

Sen. Rand Paul previously called for Fauci to be jailed over the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

Sen. Paul and others claim Fauci played a role in the outbreak through lab research in China and accused Fauci of causing “between 10 [million] and 20 million” deaths from the pandemic.