Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Tuesday released the private diaries of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the controversial former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and chief government spokesperson during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The released documents show Fauci privately confronted possibilities about the virus's origins that he publicly downplayed. On Jan. 31, 2020, he recorded that scientists considered deliberate insertion of the virus possible and agreed it required further expert review, despite later public recommendations suggesting the contrary.
He later privately questioned CDC and FDA competence, admitted officials had overstated mask ineffectiveness and repeatedly described testing and supply failures.
FAUCI'S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED
Throughout his time as NIAID director, he made note of conversations, decisions and his thoughts about actions taken by politicians and other officials. What Paul released is Fauci's historical record containing almost-daily entries.
"Later in the pandemic, he gloried in the positive attention he was receiving from legacy media and demonized those who questioned his official narrative — like me," Paul said — alluding to heated exchanges during congressional hearings when Paul grilled Fauci over his pandemic response.
"Many entries in Fauci’s daily historical account completely undermine the official narrative that Fauci and other public health officials espoused," Paul wrote in his introduction to the documents.
SLACK MESSAGES RELEASED BY RAND PAUL APPEAR TO SHOW AUTHORS OF KEY COVID-19 ORIGIN PAPER HELD PRIVATE DOUBTS
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Paul said the "first alarm" went straight to the octogenarian immunologist, as he and two other medical experts examined the furin cleavage site in the virus and deliberated about the aforementioned genomic insertion and whether it truly escaped from a Chinese lab.
"Before most Americans knew there was an origins debate, the government’s top infectious-disease official was already confronting the lab scenario," Paul said.
READ THE FAUCI DIARIES FROM 2001-2015. APP USERS: CLICK HERE
READ THE COVID-ERA FAUCI DIARIES BELOW. APP USERS: CLICK HERE