FBI Director Kash Patel revealed in a podcast that aired Friday that the bureau has had a "breakthrough" in its investigation into former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci by recovering phones he allegedly used in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Patel warned Americans not to rush to assumptions about what would be recovered from the phones, and did not specify what had been found, but the discovery is a key part of the ongoing investigation.

Fauci, who was one of the Biden administration's most public faces regarding COVID-19, cannot be prosecuted for any crimes related to his role in the federal government during the pandemic, but the Trump administration has accused Fauci of misleading the government on its handling of the pandemic.