Fauci's Personal Diaries, Released by Rand Paul's Committee, Detail Feuds With Meadows and Caputo

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released private diary entries written by Dr. Anthony Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Fox News. The release comes ahead of Fauci's scheduled testimony before Paul's committee, after Paul issued a subpoena compelling him to appear.

The diaries read like a day-to-day account of Fauci's meetings, phone calls and personal impressions as he became the public face of the government's pandemic response. They name a long list of people who crossed his path, from President Donald Trump to Julia Roberts, Steph Curry, Larry Ellison and Hunter Biden.

Trump and Fauci's early rapport

According to Fox News' review of the entries, Fauci described an initially warm relationship with Trump. He wrote that Trump directed questions to him during White House meetings, called him "the smartest person in the world," and told him, "We are counting on you." Fauci also wrote that Trump later seemed "enamored" with him as his public profile grew during the pandemic.

That early dynamic is notable given how publicly contentious the Trump-Fauci relationship became later in the pandemic, with Trump eventually souring on Fauci's public health guidance and messaging. The diary entries, as characterized by Fox News, suggest the friction built over time rather than starting from day one.

Fights over TV appearances

The most detailed material in the diaries concerns internal White House battles over Fauci's media appearances. Fauci wrote that then-chief of staff Mark Meadows threatened to keep him off television, pushed him repeatedly to soften his public messaging, and at one point was described as "screaming" over Fauci's public comments.

Fauci portrayed then-communications director Alyssa Farah differently, describing her as an ally in these internal disputes. In a 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 resume clearing his television requests.

The sharpest language in the released entries is aimed at Michael Caputo, who served as HHS assistant secretary for public affairs. In a July 2, 2020 entry, Fauci called Caputo "a con man who is completely full of sh--," writing that Caputo publicly claimed to support his TV appearances while privately blocking them, according to Fox News' reporting on the documents.

The diaries also document a recurring relationship with CNN anchor Jake Tapper, including phone calls, text exchanges and dinners at the Tappers' Washington home, per Fox News.

What these entries do and don't prove

These are Fauci's private, personal characterizations of colleagues and officials, written in real time, presumably not meant for public release. They are not sworn testimony, they are not corroborated by the people named, and nobody named in them, including Meadows, Farah or Caputo, has yet responded on the record to these specific characterizations in the source material reviewed.

Conservatives who see the diaries as vindication of longstanding complaints that the Trump White House communications shop was chaotic and that Fauci operated with an outsized independent media presence point out that the entries, if accurate, do describe genuine internal dysfunction and a health official navigating around elected officials' wishes. That represents a legitimate government-accountability question, particularly given Fauci's role directing federal pandemic policy while reportedly also cultivating television and celebrity relationships.

At the same time, a diary entry calling someone "a con man" is one person's private opinion, not a finding of fact. Caputo, Meadows and Farah have not been shown in this reporting to have been given a chance to respond to these specific claims. No investigation, complaint or legal proceeding has established wrongdoing by any of them based on these entries.

The timing is also significant. Paul's subpoena and the diary release land directly ahead of Fauci's scheduled Senate testimony on COVID's origins, giving the committee fresh material to press him on his internal characterizations of colleagues, his television strategy, and his account of who controlled his public messaging during the pandemic.

What happens next

Fauci is set to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where Paul and other members are expected to question him directly about the diary entries, his media strategy during the pandemic, and his account of internal White House conflicts. Whether Meadows, Farah or Caputo respond publicly to their characterizations in the diaries, and whether Fauci stands by the entries under oath, remains to be seen.