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Newly released diary entries by Dr. Anthony Fauci offer an unfiltered look at what the nation’s top infectious disease expert really thought of the politicians, television personalities and celebrities who filled his orbit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Released by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., the diaries chronicle Fauci’s day-to-day role during the COVID-19 pandemic through meetings, phone calls and personal observations. The release comes days before Fauci is scheduled to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed by Paul.
The entries feature everyone from President Donald Trump to Julia Roberts, Steph Curry, Larry Ellison and Hunter Biden, offering an unusually personal look at the people who crossed Fauci’s path during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early entries portray a warm working relationship between Fauci and Trump. Fauci wrote that Trump repeatedly directed questions to him during White House meetings, called him “the smartest person in the world,” told him, “We are counting on you,” and later appeared “enamored” with him as Fauci’s national profile grew.
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Fauci’s relationship with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows deteriorated throughout the pandemic. Fauci wrote that Meadows threatened to keep him off television, repeatedly pushed him to soften his public messaging and, in one entry, recounted Meadows “screaming” over his public comments.
Fauci, however, repeatedly described then-White House communications director Alyssa Farah as an ally during internal battles over media appearances. In one May 2020 entry, he wrote that Farah admitted White House staff had been “holding me back,” said the situation had “gotten out of hand” and promised to begin clearing his television requests again.
Not everyone in the administration’s communications operation earned Fauci’s praise. In a July 2, 2020 entry, Fauci called then-HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo “a con man who is completely full of sh–,” writing that Caputo publicly claimed to support his television appearances while privately blocking them.
Television journalists also became recurring figures in Fauci’s diary. CNN anchor Jake Tapper appears repeatedly, with Fauci documenting phone calls, text exchanges and dinners at the Tappers’ Washington home.
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Fauci wrote that Tapper privately checked to make sure a CNN interview hadn’t caused problems with the White House. When The Atlantic’s Peter Nicholas suggested Fauci had been “humiliated” over a canceled Tapper interview, Fauci fired back in his diary: “F— you, Peter.”
After Fauci’s heated exchange with Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, Fauci wrote that CNN’s Dana Bash texted him, telling him he was “a better man” and relaying that fellow CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer had joked no one would have blamed Fauci if he had told Jordan to “go f— yourself.”
The following day, Fauci wrote that Bash texted him again, this time pointing him to a Vanity Fair headline mocking Jordan’s performance at the hearing.
The diary also features colorful asides about billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whom Fauci described as “a bit of a loose cannon” while discussing White House efforts to use Oracle technology during the pandemic.
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Beyond politicians and White House aides, Fauci’s diary reads at times like a Hollywood guest list. Actress Julia Roberts hosted Fauci on Instagram Live, sent him flowers and later presented him with an award, while Vogue editor Anna Wintour, comedian Trevor Noah, NBA star Steph Curry, actors Sean Penn and Matt Damon, and rapper Lil Wayne also make appearances as Fauci documented his growing celebrity during the pandemic.
The diary closes with another unexpected cameo. At the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors, Fauci wrote that he hugged Hunter Biden, who joked the internet “would explode” if someone photographed them together because they were both “being attacked by the far right GOP.”
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