'Total s**t show': Fauci diaries reveal what Covid tsar thought about Trump and his own rising fame. What else is in the notes?

Anthony Fauci, the public face of America's Covid-19 pandemic response, kept a diary in which he once described US President Donald Trump as "the smartest person in the world" and "really a famous guy", before his views soured. More than 1,141 pages of material spanning December 2019 to December 2022 have been publicly released. Described in the US media as Fauci's "meticulous notes", these were obtained through congressional oversight, document requests and subpoenas rather than voluntary release by Fauci. The former Chief Medical Advisor to the US President is due to testify before a key congressional committee on Wednesday (Jul 29). What else do the publicly released excerpts reveal? Fair warning: strong language ahead.

What Fauci thought of Trump: From adoration to contempt

The early years of their interaction during Trump's first term, which ended as Covid became a global pandemic, appeared cordial. But in an entry dated 27 February 2020, Fauci recounted urging Trump not to underplay the virus's seriousness, warning it could damage his re-election prospects if the outbreak worsened.

Fauci later described Trump as "rambling", "getting out of control", and called some of his press briefings "a total s**t show".

Among his strongest comments, Fauci described Trump as "desperate" about re-election, "a true embarrassment", "spewing nonsense" and "incorrigible". In a March 2021 entry, he also compared Trump's post-election conduct to that of Hitler, calling him "truly an obnoxious adolescent".

Fauci noted down his tensions with White House staff

The diaries also recorded his frustrations with then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who Fauci alleged had threatened to limit his television appearances, shouted at him and pushed for softer public messaging.

Fauci also called Michael Caputo, the then US Department of Health and Human Services spokesman, "a con man who is completely full of sh**."

Fauci on Covid origins and the lab-leak theory: Did he favour the Covid natural-origin hypothesis?

One of the biggest controversies surrounding the pandemic has been ‘the lab-leak theory’, which argued that the Covid virus may have escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Fauci later faced criticism over NIH-funded research involving EcoHealth Alliance and its links to research conducted with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

But in his diary entries, Fauci appeared to oppose the Lab theory. In a diary entry dated 26 January 2020, Fauci wrote: "The first infection was in early December and was not connected to the [Wuhan] market... Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier." He added that "somewhere the virus jumped from animals to humans."

A 1 February 2020 entry describing a conference call with outside scientists recorded that only two participants favoured a natural origin, while most others felt "deliberate insertion was possible".

The entries show Fauci documenting private scientific discussions about possible origins while publicly maintaining that more evidence and investigation were needed.

In later entries, he dismissed some congressional allegations as "conspiracy theory-like" and "a waste of our time".

Fauci noted his growing public profile. Was it all about him?

Fauci's multiple diary entries reflected on the intense media attention that he was getting at the time. A 21 March 2020 entry said: "Big front page article about me appeared in The Washington Post. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable."

"It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognisable people in the world," he wrote.

Other entries include comments such as "Press is going wild with me", while referring to interactions with celebrities including Barbra Streisand, Julia Roberts, Steph Curry and Larry Ellison. He also noted merchandise such as "Fauci socks", "Fauci doughnuts", Fauci fan art and prayer candles.

Fauci had influence on Covid restrictions in the US

The diary entries suggest Fauci played an influential advisory role as governments considered restrictions during the pandemic. On 15 March 2020, he wrote: "I spoke with Bill de Blasio [the then New York Cit... and convinced him... to close the NYC schools... I went on to tell him he should close the bars and restaurants in NYC."

Another entry has drawn attention because it records Fauci discussing with former CDC Director Tom Frieden an estimated Covid case fatality rate of "more like 0.2-0.3% rather than 2.0%". As scientific understanding evolved, Fauci later gave Congress higher estimates based on the information available at the time.

How were the Fauci diary entries accessed, and what happens next?

The diary entries and private notes were released recently by Republican Senator Rand Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, as part of the committee's investigation into Covid origins and gain-of-function research.

The release comes ahead of Fauci's testimony before the committee. Paul has argued the entries show differences between Fauci's private discussions and some of his public statements on issues including Covid origins and pandemic restrictions.

Is Fauci's privacy violated by the release of the diary entries?

Notes created during official duties by a senior federal official may be subject to the Federal Records Act and congressional oversight. The material was obtained through legal processes rather than Fauci's consent, raising broader questions about the balance between officials' expectations of privacy for work-related records and public accountability.

Political controversy erupts over Fauci diary entries

Republicans have cited the diary entries to question Fauci's credibility and highlight what they describe as inconsistencies between his private notes and public statements.

Supporters of Fauci have argued that the excerpts have been released selectively and should be viewed in the broader context of rapidly evolving scientific evidence during the pandemic.

Fauci continues to face political scrutiny. He also received a pre-emptive federal pardon from former President Joe Biden covering potential federal offences related to his official pandemic work, although it does not prevent congressional oversight or testimony.