Released diary entries document Fauci’s characterizations of Trump during pandemic
Diary entries released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., show Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former top U.S. government science adviser, privately describing then-President Donald Trump in negative terms during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a report Tuesday by The Guardian.
The entries, drawn from a journal Fauci kept during his time as a top government science adviser, span from late February 2020 — when the virus was first spreading widely in the U.S. — through March 2021, after Trump had left office.
On Feb. 27, 2020, after a late-night phone call of about 20 to 25 minutes, Fauci wrote that he “encouraged [Trump] not to underplay the seriousness of the situation since if it turns out bad, it would look like he is covering up.” Fauci said he spoke to Trump “from a political standpoint that his chances for re-election might be more damaged if he downplayed the potential spread of virus in the USA than if he said we may face serious problems.” He wrote, “I thought that he heard what I said, but the next day, he again underplayed it.”
By March 14, 2020, during the first nationwide Covid shutdowns, Fauci wrote that Trump was preoccupied with “the fluff of ratings and publicity” and wanted “2 press conferences/day — one in AM and one in PM,” leaving the science team without time to work.
On May 22, 2020, Fauci wrote that Trump was “getting out of control in pushing to open up the country and get the economy back before election day. He is desparate [sic]. This is all about re-election.”
In October 2020, as cases surged again, 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, after Trump had attempted to retain power despite losing the 2020 election, Fauci wrote that the efforts reminded him “historically of Hitler” and described Trump as “truly an obnoxious adolescent.”
The entries also show Fauci acting as an anonymous source for journalists. He wrote in late May 2020 about a “long conversation on ‘background’ with [Washington Post reporter] Bob Woodward who is writing a book on the early response to Covid in the USA. I provided him with some history of our response in early January and into February.”
Sen. Paul, a frequent critic of Fauci’s role in the pandemic response, released the diary entries. Paul has said he will use a Wednesday hearing, for which Fauci was compelled to appear, to “make sure Fauci answers for his dangerous decisions and the consequences they had for millions.” Paul has accused Fauci of needlessly shutting down the country and of covering up the claim that the virus was human-made and that U.S.-funded research contributed to its creation. Fauci has consistently said the virus originated in animal-to-human transmission, the generally accepted theory among scientists.
The two men have clashed publicly before. At a January 2022 hearing, Fauci told Paul that his attacks “kindl[ed] the crazies out there and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me.”
The right-wing press coverage of the diary entries has focused on Fauci’s personal notes about his rise to prominence during the pandemic, including references to meeting singer Joan Baez and actors Julia Roberts and Sean Penn. On July 13, 2020, Fauci wrote of a “Major, Major show of support for me from multiple and varied sectors” and of “outrage that the trump administration woud [sic] be so bumbling and incompetent to try to discredit the most credible scientist in the world.”