Rand Paul releases Fauci diary pages with private criticism of Trump

Mixed · 2Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released new pages of Anthony Fauci's diary on Wednesday 7 October 2026. 1 2 Centre · 1Paul announced the release in a nine-post thread on X, and Newsweek describes the material as a 203-page package labelled "Released by Chairman Rand Paul". 2 Mixed · 2The most prominent entry, covering 1–7 January 2019 during a government shutdown, reads: "He is acting more and more bizarre. Should be impeached, but Dems are rightfully concerned that this will galvanize his base." Newsweek says this appears to be the first public disclosure of Fauci calling for Trump's impeachment in his own words. 1 2

Right · 1Earlier entries show his criticism began before Trump took office: he wrote that "Trump made a fool of himself in the debate on Monday 26 Sept" 2016, and that after the Access Hollywood tape, "Anyone else would be disqualified by this; however, his people still support him." 1 Mixed · 2Further entries cited include "Trump acting very erratically. Continues to implode" after the tape, a December 2016 remark that Trump "continues to spout outrageous things on one day and seem reasonable on the next day", and a 21 January 2017 note that he was "acting amaxingly [sic] unpresidential!". By March 2017 Fauci called Trump and his team "truly unscrupulous" as the administration proposed deep cuts, including an estimated 20 percent cut affecting the NIH. 3 2 Mixed · 2The pages also record Fauci's September 2017 hosting of Gao Fu, then head of the China CDC, at the NIH, whom he called "Very smart and nice guy", followed by a meeting with Chinese officials at CSIS. 3 2

Mixed · 2A 22 July 2016 entry describes a ransomware attack that encrypted an unprotected folder and cost him all the letters he had written, along with other documents; the folder had been created for confidential files made after the anthrax attacks. 3 2 Centre · 1Newsweek says this is the second tranche presented as Fauci's personal diary, after Paul's July release of pandemic-era entries from December 2019 to December 2022, which had shown him calling Trump "an idiot" and "out of control". Paul also released a separate "prequel" of records and emails from 2001 to July 2015. 2 Mixed · 2The release is part of Paul's wider investigation, which Just the News says examines whether Fauci or his aides destroyed government documents to avoid public records requests. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment in an August hearing, and the committee voted 8-5 along party lines to approve a contempt resolution and referred him to the Justice Department. 3 2

Mixed · 2Fauci holds a pardon from President Joe Biden covering conduct from 1 January 2014 to 19 January 2025. Paul has said he thinks the pardon should be challenged, while Democrats on the committee argued the investigation was one-sided and that Fauci could still face legal exposure; the Justice Department is not required to pursue the referral. 2 3 Centre · 1Newsweek said it had asked Fauci (via Georgetown University), the White House and the NIH for comment and was awaiting responses; no response from them appears in the coverage. 2