RFK Jr. calls Fauci diary release proof of pandemic mismanagement as congressional testimony looms

The release of Dr. Anthony Fauci's personal diary entries, made public by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, is putting the former infectious disease chief's pandemic record in focus ahead of a Wednesday congressional appearance. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., speaking Monday on Fox News' "The Ingraham Angle," said the journals confirm Fauci's attention was on personal celebrity rather than public health outcomes. Kennedy cited a U.S. COVID mortality rate of 3,000 deaths per million people as the measure of that failure.

Diary entries and the fame record

The journals chronicle Fauci's day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the entries: Fauci described himself as the most famous and talked-about person in the country and wrote that the characterization was "not hyperbole." Fauci, 85, became widely known as "America's doctor" during the 2020 shutdowns, when the public looked to him for guidance. Kennedy told host Laura Ingraham the diaries confirm Fauci's focus was on "promoting himself, on getting on TV and not doing public health."

Kennedy, who said he is traumatized by what he described as Fauci's falsehoods, argued the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases did "incalculable" damage to the public's trust in health institutions. He said Americans who questioned Fauci's positions were marginalized, vilified, demonized, and censored. Kennedy told Fox News his own Instagram account, then carrying a million followers, was removed for posts that included claims about COVID-19's Wuhan lab origins. He described those posts as content now widely understood to be accurate.

The mortality number and the media critique

Kennedy placed the U.S. COVID mortality rate at 3,000 deaths per million people, which he said made the United States the worst-performing nation in the world on that metric. He attributed the outcome in part to Fauci's leadership. On the press, Kennedy said media organizations were part of what he described as a collaboration that suppressed dissenting views and vehemently defended Fauci's record. He said that posture did "incalculable damage" to Americans' faith in the media and to public health more broadly.

What to watch: Wednesday testimony

Fauci faces congressional testimony Wednesday on his diary entries and pandemic response. Sen. Rand Paul, who released the journals, is expected to lead the questioning. Kennedy said that if Fauci's statements Wednesday conflict with facts now on the record, Fauci could be subject to perjury prosecution.

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