Fauci’s Private Diaries Expose His Lies to Congress — Senate Hearing Set for Wednesday
- Rex Ballard
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Sen. Rand Paul has released more than a thousand pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s personal diary entries spanning December 2019 through December 2022. The documents, obtained through official Senate oversight and posted in the committee’s public “Reading Room,” reveal a consistent gap between what Fauci recorded privately and what he told Congress and the American people about the origins of COVID-19.
Early Private Doubts About Natural Origin
On January 26, 2020, Fauci recorded that epidemiological and genomic data already indicated the Wuhan wet market “was not the source, it was the amplifier.” Chinese officials had claimed the first cases came from the market and that there was no human-to-human transmission. Privately, Fauci had already discarded that account.
Five days later, during the February 1, 2020 call that produced the influential “Proximal Origin” paper, Fauci’s own notes state that only two of the twelve scientists concluded the virus was natural. “The rest felt that deliberate insertion was possible.” Leading virologists had already told him that the furin cleavage site raised serious doubts about a natural origin, with roughly half viewing it as looking “constructed.”
For years afterward, Fauci publicly and repeatedly dismissed the lab-leak hypothesis while insisting the science was settled. Those private contemporaneous notes now form part of the record showing he was aware of substantial scientific skepticism about a purely natural origin far earlier than he acknowledged to Congress or the public.
Private Frustration Over Gain-of-Function Funding vs. Sworn Denials
The diaries also document Fauci’s private frustration and defensiveness, specifically over questions about gain-of-function research linked to the EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
This private reaction stands in sharp contrast to his sworn testimony. On May 11, 2021, under questioning from Sen. Paul, Fauci stated: “The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” When pressed again on July 20, 2021, and offered the chance to retract the statement, he refused and insisted he had never lied to Congress.
The diary entries show he was privately agitated by exactly those funding questions while he was delivering definitive denials under oath.
The diary also plainly illustrates his lust for fame and notoriety. There are multiple entries fixated on the media's near Saint-like worship of him.
Full diary package: Tony’s Diary Package PDF Reading Room: paul.senate.gov/readingroom
Subpoenaed Testimony on July 29
Fauci initially agreed to appear voluntarily before Paul’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, then declined. Paul issued a subpoena in late June. The public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room SD-342.
Expected lines of questioning include the early private assessments of origins, the gain-of-function research and EcoHealth Alliance funding, records retention and deletion instructions, contradictions with prior sworn testimony, and the circumstances of Fauci’s broad preemptive presidential pardon.
The Pardon and the Fifth Amendment
Biden issued Fauci a sweeping preemptive pardon on January 19, 2025, covering federal offenses related to his official duties over a multi-year period. Under Supreme Court precedent (Brown v. Walker, 1896), a valid presidential pardon removes the realistic threat of federal prosecution for the covered acts. As a result, the recipient generally cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination on those subjects.
The privilege may still apply to potential state crimes or to new offenses (such as perjury) committed during the testimony itself. On the core investigative topics, however, Fauci’s ability to refuse to answer is significantly narrowed. Congress retains contempt authority for improper refusals.
Accountability Still Matters
The diaries do not invent new theories. They document, in Fauci’s own contemporaneous words, that senior scientists — including Fauci — privately recognized serious questions about a laboratory origin and the market’s limited role far earlier than the public narrative allowed. They also show a public official who projected certainty while privately recording uncertainty and defensiveness.
For Shasta County residents and all Americans who lived through the cascading policy decisions that followed those early assessments, the gap between private notes and public testimony is a question of institutional honesty. The July 29 hearing will test whether congressional oversight retains force when the witness carries a presidential pardon.
