Newly released pages from Anthony Fauci’s personal diary show the longtime federal health official privately criticizing Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and later writing that Trump “should be impeached” while serving as president.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
WASHINGTON — Newly released pages from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal diary show that the longtime federal health official repeatedly expressed negative views of Donald Trump beginning during the 2016 presidential campaign and later wrote privately that Trump “should be impeached.”
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the additional records Wednesday as part of his continuing investigation into Fauci, COVID-19 origins and federally funded infectious-disease research.
The newly released diary pages fill in portions of Fauci’s private writings predating and during Trump’s first administration.
In an entry covering Jan. 1-7, 2019, during a partial federal government shutdown, Fauci wrote of Trump: “He is acting more and more bizarre. Should be impeached, but Dems are rightfully concerned that this will galvanize his base.”
The entry shows that Fauci privately supported impeachment well before the House formally opened an impeachment inquiry into Trump later in 2019.
The records also indicate that Fauci had developed a sharply negative view of Trump before he became president.
Following the Sept. 26, 2016, presidential debate between Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Fauci wrote: “Trump made a fool of himself in the debate on Monday 26 Sept.”
Days later, after publication of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump made sexually explicit comments about women, Fauci recorded another critical assessment.
“Trump caught in Tape denigrating women,” Fauci wrote. “Anyone else would be disqualified by this; however, his people still support him.”
The diary also shows Fauci considering how a possible Trump presidency could affect federal biomedical research and funding while he was serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Fauci led NIAID from 1984 through 2022, serving under seven presidents from Ronald Reagan through Joe Biden. His position was not a political appointment requiring him to publicly support the president in office, though senior career officials are generally expected to administer federal policy regardless of their personal political views.
The newly released entries document Fauci’s private opinions. By themselves, they do not establish that he used his government position to act against Trump or allowed those views to influence official public-health decisions.
Paul has nevertheless argued that Fauci’s private records are relevant to congressional oversight because they provide additional context for his decision-making and public statements.
Paul has made Fauci a central focus of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s investigation into the government’s response to COVID-19, the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and federally supported gain-of-function research.
The senator created a public “Reading Room” this year to publish primary-source documents obtained through the investigation, including Fauci’s diary, emails and other internal records.
The committee called Fauci to testify July 29. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to questions during the hearing, and committee Republicans subsequently advanced a contempt resolution against him in an 8-5 party-line vote.
Democrats on the committee disputed Paul’s legal arguments surrounding that proceeding. Ranking member Gary Peters, D-Mich., said Fauci was exercising constitutional protections and argued that the proposed contempt action lacked a sufficient legal basis.
Paul has separately accused Fauci of providing misleading testimony about gain-of-function research and of directing colleagues to delete official communications. Fauci has previously disputed allegations that he misled Congress about research funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Records released earlier by Paul included emails in which Fauci instructed recipients to delete certain messages after reading them. Paul has argued those communications conflict with Fauci’s previous testimony that he did not destroy government records.
The senator has also highlighted earlier sections of Fauci’s diary dealing with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul contends those entries show a gap between Fauci’s private discussions about a possible laboratory origin of the coronavirus and some of his later public statements. Fauci and other scientists have maintained that early consideration of multiple possible origins was consistent with how scientific assessments develop as evidence emerges.
Wednesday’s release broadens the focus beyond the pandemic by showing that Fauci was privately commenting on Trump’s politics and conduct years before COVID-19 reached the United States.
The 2016 entries coincide with a highly contentious presidential campaign. Fauci’s comments on the September debate and the “Access Hollywood” recording were personal observations recorded in his diary rather than public statements made in his government role.
The January 2019 entry was more explicit politically, with Fauci stating that Trump “should be impeached” while also acknowledging his belief that Democrats feared impeachment could strengthen the president politically.
Trump was ultimately impeached twice during his first term, first in December 2019 over his dealings with Ukraine and again in January 2021 following the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The Senate acquitted him both times.
The newly disclosed diary records do not show Fauci participating in either impeachment effort.
They do, however, provide a previously unreleased account of the private political opinions of one of the federal government’s most prominent career health officials — opinions that became particularly significant after Fauci emerged as a leading public figure alongside Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul’s committee investigation remains ongoing, and additional documents from Fauci’s records are expected to continue being released through the senator’s public archive.
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