Anthony Fauci’s private diary entries from the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic reveal his growing frustration with Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis, describing the former president as “rambling”, “crazy” and “incompetent”.

The journals, released by Republican Senator Rand Paul as part of his long-running criticism of Fauci’s role in the US pandemic response, show the former government science adviser documenting difficult interactions with Trump as the virus spread across the country.

Early warnings over virus response

Fauci wrote that he spoke with Trump during a late-night phone call on 27 February 2020, as concern over Covid-19 was increasing in the US.

According to the diary, Fauci urged the president not to minimise the seriousness of the outbreak, warning that downplaying the threat could harm Trump politically if the situation worsened.

Fauci wrote that he advised Trump that being transparent about the risks would earn public respect, even if the economy and stock market suffered.

However, he noted that Trump appeared to return to a more dismissive approach the following day.

Criticism grows during election year

By mid-March 2020, as lockdowns and public health restrictions were introduced, Fauci recorded frustration over Trump’s focus on media appearances.

He wrote that Trump wanted two daily press briefings, leaving officials with less time to work on the response.

In May 2020, Fauci wrote that Trump was becoming increasingly focused on reopening the country ahead of the presidential election, describing the push as driven by political concerns.

A true embarrassment

Months later, as infections rose before the election, Fauci criticised Trump’s campaign appearances and wrote that the president was “out of control” and a “true embarrassment”.

After Trump lost the election but attempted to challenge the result, Fauci compared the situation to historical examples of leaders refusing to accept defeat. By March 2021, he described Trump as “truly an obnoxious adolescent”.

The diary entries also show Fauci’s concerns about being viewed as a source for journalists. He recorded conversations with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, who was writing a book about the US response to Covid-19.

Long-running dispute with Rand Paul

The publication of the diaries was arranged by Senator Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky who has repeatedly criticised Fauci’s pandemic policies.

Paul has accused Fauci of supporting unnecessary restrictions and has questioned whether research funding linked to US institutions contributed to the origins of Covid-19. Fauci has rejected claims that the virus was created in a laboratory and has continued to support the theory that it emerged through animal-to-human transmission.

The two have clashed publicly, including during a 2022 Senate hearing when Fauci said Paul’s accusations had contributed to threats against him and his family.

Paul has said he plans to question Fauci again at an upcoming hearing, where the 85-year-old former adviser has been required to appear.

The diaries have also drawn attention to Fauci’s own comments about his public profile during the pandemic. In one 2020 entry, he noted widespread support from the public and described himself as being seen as a highly trusted scientific figure. His notes also recorded meetings and interactions with celebrities and media figures during his rise to international recognition.

Join the discussion?

28 July 2026

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The diaries are incidental, the real contrast is between Fauci’s record of steady public trust and Trump’s chaotic promises that collapsed under reality.

The results of the US pandemic response were confusion, politicisation, and needless division. These speak far louder than any diary entry!

Fauci’s notes may show ego, but Trump’s leadership showed consequences.

I think most people realised something was

"wrong " when he told us to drink bleach!

It appears that Fauci was complicit in the outbreak and tried to hide it.

Unbelievable that Fauci is not locked up

or even walking on this planet.

The OP is yet again an anti-Trump article,

while the real criminal is fauci.

12 minutes ago, AustinRacing said:

It appears that Fauci was complicit in the outbreak and tried to hide it.

Yeah, all those tv appearances that he made emphasizing the seriousness of the outbreak were totally fabricated.

I mean dude, Fauci was on tv nearly every day talking about Covid, how could he be hiding it?

Like him or not, he wasn’t hiding it in any way shape or form. Most of the criticism that he gets is that he overplayed the seriousness

4 minutes ago, FlorC said:

Unbelievable that Fauci is not locked up

or even walking on this planet.

The OP is yet again an anti-Trump article,

while the real criminal is fauci.

Remind me which actual law he broke. It will help to frame an arrest warrant.

He was an advisor. The decision makers can take the advice or ignore it. Up to them.

16 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

Yeah, all those tv appearances that he made emphasizing the seriousness of the outbreak were totally fabricated.

I mean dude, Fauci was on tv nearly every day talking about Covid, how could he be hiding it?

Like him or not, he wasn’t hiding it in any way shape or form. Most of the criticism that he gets is that he overplayed the seriousness

Fair enough. The complicity I was referring to was about hiding his involvement in creation of the virus and not the outbreak.

52 minutes ago, AustinRacing said:

It appears that Fauci was complicit in the outbreak and tried to hide it.

Au contraire:

In June 2020 Trump remarked: "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any" and stated that he told his staff to "slow the testing down, please" because extensive testing identified more infections and made the numbers look higher.

In February 2020, during a White House meeting with coronavirus task force officials and other leaders, Trump spoke about the virus and said:

"It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear."

1 hour ago, FlorC said:

Unbelievable that Fauci is not locked up

or even walking on this planet.

The OP is yet again an anti-Trump article,

while the real criminal is fauci.

You would say anything to defend the loser, when the entire nation knows that Trump lied through his teeth and did absolutely everything to prevent word from getting out about just how badly the spread of the virus was. It is likely tens of thousands of lives have been saved if Trump was not behaving like such an ignorant goon.

Trump is a pig and would do anything to score political points, whether or not people lose their lives is of no consequence to him.

Now, because famed Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward recorded him, we can hear Trump's own voice saying that he understood precisely that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was deadly and spread through the air. As he was playing down the virus to the public, Trump was not confused or inadequately briefed: He flat-out lied, repeatedly, about science to the American people. These lies demoralized the scientific community and cost countless lives in the United States.

Editorials have bemoaned endorsements by presidents on teaching intelligent design, creationism, and other antiscience in public schools. These matters are still important. But now, a U.S. president has deliberately lied about science in a way that was imminently dangerous to human health and directly led to widespread deaths of Americans.

This may be the most shameful moment in the history of U.S. science policy.

In an interview with Woodward on 7 February 2020, Trump said he knew that COVID-19 was more lethal than the flu and that it spread through the air. “This is deadly stuff,” he said. But on 9 March, he tweeted that the “common flu” was worse than COVID-19, while economic advisor Larry Kudlow and presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway assured the public that the virus was contained. On 19 March, Trump told Woodward that he did not want to level with the American people about the danger of the virus. “I wanted to always play it down,” he said, “I still like playing it down.” Playing it down meant lying about the fact that he knew the country was in grave danger.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe7391

3 hours ago, Jim Blue said:

I think most people realised something was

"wrong " when he told us to drink bleach!

Except he didn't actually say that!!

1 hour ago, FlorC said:

Unbelievable that Fauci is not locked up

or even walking on this planet.

The OP is yet again an anti-Trump article,

while the real criminal is fauci.

Now let’s just take a little peek a boo at this post ehh….that virus killed far and away more Americans than we lost KIA in all the wars that happened throughout our history…that’s fact it’s also DEAD Americans……not to even mention the dead from other countries….trump botched the preparation and response he also ridiculed safe practices during that deadly time.trump not only ridiculed safe practices he knowingly exposed thousands of people to the virus……I think we lucid people know who should have been jailed ehh…..in my view Fauci went way to easy on the felon.

I am surprised that Paul got hold of a private diary with the intention of proving Fauci was to blame for COVID deaths. From the excerpts it looks like the opposite happened and Fauci's advice was ignored by the President to the detriment of the public.

2 hours ago, FlorC said:

Unbelievable that Fauci is not locked up

or even walking on this planet.

The OP is yet again an anti-Trump article,

while the real criminal is fauci.

What is unbelievable is that Trump wasn’t locked up. His (criminal) negligence handling the covid pandemic caused hundreds of thousands of Americans to die unnecessarily. And all just so that he wouldn’t look bad….

1 hour ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Except he didn't actually say that!!

Trump only concern is how much money he can put in his pocket and his family‘s pocket he’s corrupt lies he cheats his steals during the Covid virus he was in self denial he lied about everything concerning it and he really didn’t care how many people died from it Trump should’ve been impeached a long time ago no take years to correct what Trump has done TIA

30 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

Trump did not instruct the public to drink or inject bleach.

To put into context.......During an April 2020 White House press briefing, Donald Trump did not tell the public to drink bleach; rather, his comments were off-the-cuff speculation following a presentation by a Department of Homeland Security official showing how surface disinfectants—specifically bleach and isopropyl alcohol—kill COVID-19 on non-porous materials.

Taking the podium, Trump mused aloud to the health experts present about whether scientists could research a way to apply similar disinfectant properties inside the human body, asking if there was "a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning."

He never explicitly used the word "bleach" nor issued an instruction or medical directive to the public, his public spitballing on injecting or ingesting disinfectants triggered immediate, widespread warnings from medical professionals and chemical manufacturers stressing that internal use of such substances is extremely dangerous and lethal.

5 hours ago, Jim Blue said:

I think most people realised something was

"wrong " when he told us to drink bleach!

Yep just another media falsehood... https://www.bpr.org/2024-04-03/fact-check-did-trump-once-tell-americans-to-inject-bleach-to-fight-covid-19

3 hours ago, AustinRacing said:

It appears that Fauci was complicit in the outbreak and tried to hide it.

You are wrong and there is nothing in the journals that supports your claim. Did you complete high school equivalency?

34 minutes ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

his public spitballing on..

You call it 'spitballing'. We call it, 'rank stupidity'

12 minutes ago, IsmeUno said:

You call it 'spitballing'. We call it, 'rank stupidity'

Call it what you want—criticizing it as reckless rhetoric, poor judgment, or "rank stupidity" is a fair opinion.

But calling it bad communication is a world away from claiming he explicitly told the public to drink bleach.

4 hours ago, AustinRacing said:

Fair enough. The complicity I was referring to was about hiding his involvement in creation of the virus and not the outbreak.

Hmm, I think that it is universally recognised that the source of the outbreak was Wuhan in China. Various theories as to whether by zoonotic or laboratory means of course.

But what did Fauci have to do with Wuhan, either with the wet markets as a zoonotic source, or the Chinese government owned laboratory.

Are you suggesting that Fauci was there? In the employ of the Chinese government? Working at a wet market?

I mean it’s not clear what you are suggesting.

4 hours ago, Srikcir said:

Au contraire:

In June 2020 Trump remarked: "If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any" and stated that he told his staff to "slow the testing down, please" because extensive testing identified more infections and made the numbers look higher.

In February 2020, during a White House meeting with coronavirus task force officials and other leaders, Trump spoke about the virus and said:

"It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear."

Thank for sharing Mr Dumb comments

How did he get a hold of Fauci's private diary?

36 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

How did he get a hold of Fauci's private diary?

I've have 30 years of diaries and was wondering the same thing. Your personal thoughts are protected by the 5th amendment but once you write them down they become physical evidence. Crazy IMO.

1 hour ago, wensiensheng said:

Hmm, I think that it is universally recognised that the source of the outbreak was Wuhan in China. Various theories as to whether by zoonotic or laboratory means of course.

But what did Fauci have to do with Wuhan, either with the wet markets as a zoonotic source, or the Chinese government owned laboratory.

Are you suggesting that Fauci was there? In the employ of the Chinese government? Working at a wet market?

I mean it’s not clear what you are suggesting.

He provided funding for Wuhan research. He did his best to distance himself from the lab after it hit the fan.

3 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Trump did not instruct the public to drink or inject bleach.

To put into context.......During an April 2020 White House press briefing, Donald Trump did not tell the public to drink bleach; rather, his comments were off-the-cuff speculation following a presentation by a Department of Homeland Security official showing how surface disinfectants—specifically bleach and isopropyl alcohol—kill COVID-19 on non-porous materials.

Taking the podium, Trump mused aloud to the health experts present about whether scientists could research a way to apply similar disinfectant properties inside the human body, asking if there was "a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning."

He never explicitly used the word "bleach" nor issued an instruction or medical directive to the public, his public spitballing on injecting or ingesting disinfectants triggered immediate, widespread warnings from medical professionals and chemical manufacturers stressing that internal use of such substances is extremely dangerous and lethal.

So just Trump talking BS, as usual! 😀

2 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

You are wrong and there is nothing in the journals that supports your claim. Did you complete high school equivalency?

There’s nothing to support it? You must’ve read ALL the journals then if you make that claim unless you’re talking through your backside😂😂😂

1 minute ago, AustinRacing said:

He provided funding for Wuhan research. He did his best to distance himself from the lab after it hit the fan.

The SARS-CoV-2 DNA signature doesn't match the DNA signature of the viruses studied by the research program! It cannot have originated from these viruses! 🤣

5 hours ago, Smokey and the Bandit said:

Except he didn't actually say that!!

... "During an April 23, 2020, White House briefing, Donald Trump publicly wondered if injecting disinfectants like bleach or using UV light "inside the body" could treat COVID-19. He did not explicitly tell citizens to drink bleach, but his remarks sparked severe medical warnings and later claims by Trump that he spoke sarcastically." ...

The Briefing and Public Reaction

• The Statement: Following a presentation on how bleach and sunlight kill the virus on surfaces, Trump asked about testing an injection or "cleaning" of the lungs.

• Health Warnings: Doctors, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and disinfectant companies like the makers of Lysol urgently warned the public never to ingest or inject cleaning products.

• ters in several U.S. states saw an increase in calls regarding exposure to household cleaners following the broadcast.