Paul Releases Fauci Diary Pages That Called for Trump’s Impeachment

Sen. Rand Paul on Tuesday and Wednesday released another batch of diary pages kept by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime National Institutes of Health official who led the government’s public COVID response. The pages show Fauci disparaging Donald Trump years before the pandemic, praising a senior Chinese health official, and recording the loss of confidential files in a ransomware attack.

Paul, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is investigating whether Fauci or his aides destroyed government records to avoid disclosure. Government emails are generally required to be preserved under the Federal Records Act. Willfully and unlawfully concealing or destroying a public record is punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.

In an entry covering Jan. 1–7, 2019, during a government shutdown, Fauci wrote: “He is acting more and more bizarre. Should be impeached, but Dems are rightfully concerned that this will galvanize his base.”

The dislike started earlier. After the first 2016 debate, Fauci wrote, “Trump made a fool of himself in the debate on Monday 26 Sept.” When the Access Hollywood recording surfaced that October, he wrote, “Trump caught in Tape denigrating women. Anyone else would be disqualified by this; however, his people still support him.” Days later: “Trump acting very erratically. Continues to implode.”

After Trump beat Hillary Clinton, a December 2016 entry said Trump “continues to spout outrageous things on one day and seem reasonable on the next day.” Fauci called planned Cabinet nominations “scary.” Of Rep. Tom Price, the Georgia Republican who became Trump’s first health secretary, he wrote that Price was “against ACA, Medicare/Medicaid, abortion, anti-science” and an orthopedic surgeon. “Will give him a chance, but let us see.”

A September 2017 entry records a visit by Gao Fu, then director general of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “Big Chinese visitor day — Hosted Gao Fu (George) here at NIH. He is the Director General of the China CDC. Very smart and nice guy,” Fauci wrote. The same day he met a Chinese delegation at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that included Vice Premier Liu Yandong and health minister Li Bin, with Price present. Gao led China’s CDC through the early COVID years and left in 2022.

A July 22, 2016 entry describes a cyberattack on Fauci’s own files. “I was attacked by ‘Ransonware’ and my entire unprotected folder (CDrive – Word Files) was encrypted,” he wrote. He said a backup saved most of his daily notes and that his autobiography sat in a separate folder, but “I lost all of the letters that I have ever written as well as other important documents.” He had created the folder for confidential files after the anthrax attacks “since I did not want them accessible to anyone,” then stored other records there. “Bad idea!!!” he wrote.

Paul summoned Fauci in August. Fauci refused to answer most questions, citing the Fifth Amendment. The committee referred him to the Justice Department for possible contempt of Congress. President Joe Biden pardoned him for potential federal offenses from 2014 through 2024, the same span used in the Hunter Biden pardon. Paul has said the pardon should be challenged in court because it is not tied to a specific crime. Some legal analysts have argued a pardon that broad undercuts a Fifth Amendment claim. The new pages do not resolve that fight. They add Fauci’s own words to the record Paul is building.