BS BRIEF:
- Newly released excerpts from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal COVID-era diaries are drawing intense scrutiny after Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul published entries showing the former White House COVID adviser documenting his growing celebrity status and interactions with Hollywood stars during the height of the pandemic.
- The diary release comes just days before Fauci is scheduled to testify under subpoena before Paul’s committee, where lawmakers are expected to question him about COVID-19 origins, government-funded research, federal record retention, and other pandemic-era decisions.
FAUCI’S PRIVATE COVID DIARY REIGNITES FAME DEBATE AHEAD OF SENATE TESTIMONY
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans were watching loved ones die, businesses collapse, schools shut down and hospitals strain under the weight of an unprecedented public health emergency.
Meanwhile, according to newly released excerpts from his personal diary, Dr. Anthony Fauci was chronicling another phenomenon: his own celebrity.
The journal entries, released over the weekend by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), offer a glimpse into Fauci’s private reflections during 2020 and have already fueled a fresh round of political criticism just days before the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director is set to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Among the passages drawing the most attention are Fauci’s descriptions of conversations with celebrities, including singer Barbra Streisand.
According to the diary, Streisand called Fauci seeking advice about COVID vaccines. Fauci wrote that he recommended she receive an mRNA vaccine before the conversation shifted to Amazon’s Alexa device.
After explaining how the virtual assistant worked, Fauci wrote:
“When the song came on loud and clear, she started laughing and absolutely loved it!”
In another entry, Fauci described an Instagram exchange involving model and television personality Tyra Banks.
After reading comments about the post, Fauci noted one message that caught his attention.
“One person said that Tyra was sexy, but that I was even more sexy than she was.”
The diaries also reveal Fauci reflecting on his skyrocketing public profile.
On April 7, 2020, he wrote:
“Press still hot and heavy about me. Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”
Just weeks later, he described his newfound visibility in even grander terms.
“National and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable.”
Another diary entry recounts being invited to participate in ABC’s Dancing with the Stars during the summer of 2020, when COVID cases and deaths continued climbing across the United States.
Paul says the diary release is only the beginning.
The Kentucky senator, who now chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, published the entries as part of his ongoing investigation into the government’s handling of COVID-19 and Fauci’s role during the pandemic.
On social media, Paul argued the journals expose a stark contrast between Fauci’s public image and his private priorities.
“My investigation uncovered that Anthony Fauci kept a diary. What he wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories.”
The diary release follows Paul’s decision to subpoena Fauci after the former NIH official declined to appear voluntarily despite months of negotiations.
Paul has said next week’s hearing will focus on several unresolved issues, including the origins of COVID-19, U.S.-funded research in Wuhan, allegations involving federal records, and the scope of former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon covering Fauci’s government service.
Fauci has repeatedly denied accusations that he misled Congress regarding NIH-funded research or participated in any cover-up involving the origins of the virus. He has also maintained that decisions made during the pandemic were based on the best scientific evidence available at the time.
The upcoming hearing marks the latest chapter in a years-long clash between Fauci and Paul that began during heated Senate exchanges in 2021 over gain-of-function research and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Daily Mail — Dr. Anthony Fauci’s embarrassing obsession with fame and celebrities is revealed in secret unearthed diary entries
- Fox News — Fauci’s newly released COVID diaries reveal bizarre fixation on fame as pandemic deaths mounted
- New York Post — Dr. Fauci’s bizarre fame fixation as COVID deaths mounted revealed in newly released diaries
- The Washington Post — Anthony Fauci, Rand Paul to face off again in Senate hearing next week
- Semafor — Why Rand Paul subpoenaed Fauci
