Rand Paul released Fauci Diaries entries showing Anthony Fauci privately describing Donald Trump as increasingly out of control during the Covid-19 pandemic. The entries place those judgments alongside dated notes from 27 February 2020 through March 2021, turning private reflections into a public record of the disputes.
27 February 2020 call
On 27 February 2020, Fauci wrote that Trump wanted to chat about the coronavirus situation in general during a late-night call that lasted 20-25 minutes. He wrote that he encouraged Trump not to underplay the seriousness of the situation and warned that it would look like a cover-up if things turned bad.
Fauci also wrote that he told Trump his chances for re-election might be damaged if he downplayed the virus in the USA. In the same entry, he said he thought Trump heard what he said but underplayed it the next day. That sequence matters because it shows the argument was not a one-time exchange; Fauci recorded a warning, then a reversal within a day.
March and May entries
By 14 March, Fauci wrote that Trump was fixated on “the fluff of ratings and publicity” and wanted two press conferences a day, which he said would leave them with no time to do work. On 22 May, he wrote that Trump was getting out of control in pushing to open up the country and get the economy back before election day, adding, “He is desparate [sic]. This is all about re-election.”
In late May 2020, Fauci wrote that he had a long conversation on background with Bob Woodward and gave him history of the response in early January and into February. That places the diary entries alongside outside reporting and shows Fauci was keeping a contemporaneous record while also talking privately about the early response.
October 2020 and March 2021
In October 2020, Fauci wrote: “As the [presidential] election nears, the cases increase and surges are inevitable as we enter cooler weather. Trump is on the campaign trail spewing nonsense. He is really out of control. A true embarrassment.” By March 2021, he wrote that Trump’s attempt to retain power after electoral defeat reminded him historically of Hitler and that Trump was “truly an obnoxious adolescent.”
Rand Paul has long voiced skepticism about Fauci’s Covid-19 response, and Fauci told Paul at a hearing in January 2022 that the attacks put him in danger and kindled “the crazies out there.” The release of the diaries now gives readers a dated account of how Fauci described Trump across key points in the pandemic, and the remaining question is how many additional entries were included beyond the quoted excerpts.
