Newly surfaced personal diary entries from Dr. Anthony Fauci offer a glimpse into his conversations with major celebrities at a time when the United States was still reeling from the devastating early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and later President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, became one of the country’s most recognizable public health figures during the 2020 lockdown era.
The diary excerpts were released by Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, a longtime critic and frequent political opponent of Fauci.
Paul claims the entries show what he described as Fauci’s enjoyment of the attention that came with his pandemic-era prominence, highlighting one passage in which the senator said Fauci appeared to be “fangirling” while recounting a conversation with Barbra Streisand about Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa.
“She wanted to know if it was okay to get mRNA vaccine. I told her yes,” Fauci wrote, describing the exchange as a “great call.”
In the entry, Fauci went on to describe playing Streisand’s music through Alexa, noting that the legendary entertainer “really did not know what Alexa was.”
Fauci also wrote that he accidentally “butt called” Streisand later that same day, only to learn that she had intended to reach out to him anyway with questions about the differences between the Moderna and Pfizer COVID vaccines.
During the follow-up conversation, he said he showed her how Alexa worked by asking the device to play songs from Streisand’s catalog.
Anthony Fauci wrote in his personal diaries delighted of his interactions with celebrities as America went through the death throes of the early COVID-19 pandemic
Paul accuses Fauci of revealing ‘his love for the newfound fame COVID brought him’ before publishing a paragraph the Senator says is of him ‘fangirling’ over explaining the Amazon Alexa to Barbra Streisand
‘When the song came on loud and clear, she started laughing and absolutely loved it!’
In another, he discusses and Instagram post with the ‘wonderful’ Tyra Banks.
‘One person said that Tyra was sexy, but that I was even more sexy than she was,’ he said of the comments, which he admitted were often ‘mean and vicious.’
Fauci also comments on his own fame in general, including one post on April 7 of 2020, nearly a month after the pandemic began.
‘Press still hot and heavy about me. Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me,” Fauci wrote.
He described the ‘national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable’ by May 21.
In late June of 2020, Fauci writes in one entry that he’s been asked to participate on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
The diaries have been released as part of Senator Paul’s investigation into Fauci and days before he testifies the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Paul is the Homeland Security Committee Chair.
His diaries have been published by longtime adversary and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul
In another, he discusses and Instagram post with the ‘wonderful’ Tyra Banks
Paul had served as a key advisor to Donald Trump during the final year of his presidency
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Paul accused Fauci of dodging a previous commitment to testify before a Senate committee chaired by the Kentucky libertarian.
‘Last week, Anthony Fauci notified us that he will not voluntarily testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, even though he had previously agreed to do so,’ Paul wrote on X on Monday.
‘Therefore, today we have issued a subpoena for him to publicly testify.’ Paul said later Fauci would testify in July.
The subpoena is the latest in a long string of clashes between Paul and Fauci.
As far back as 2021, Paul accused Fauci in a Senate hearing of providing funding for a Chinese laboratory, which intelligence reports have revealed may have originated the COVID pandemic.
Fauci denied the accusations, but Paul believes the evidence shows otherwise and has pushed for an indictment of Fauci, alleging that he lied to Congress under oath.
In May, Paul warned in a social media post that the statute of limitations for Fauci’s alleged misdeed was about to expire. Fauci has not been indicted by Trump’s Justice Department.
Fauci received a pardon from former President Joe Biden at the end of the latter’s tenure in office.
His diaries have been published by longtime adversary and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul , who dolled them up as if to look like those of a teenage girl
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases turned chief medical advisor to Joe Biden achieved a fame of his own during lockdowns in 2020
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Should public health leaders be held accountable for prioritizing fame during a national crisis?
The ‘full and unconditional’ pardon cleared the former White House medical advisor for ‘any offenses against the United States which he may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014’ through the date of the pardon.
Nonetheless, Paul is still pursuing an opportunity to speak to Fauci, promising in another X post on Tuesday to ‘review every aspect of Fauci’s pardon and continue demanding accountability.’
‘The American people deserve answers about COVID’s origins and the actions of public officials,’ Paul continued. ‘No one is above scrutiny.’
Controversy surrounding COVID origins was fueled earlier this year by congressional testimony from CIA agent James Erdman, as previously reported by the Daily Mail.
Erdman alleged that Fauci ‘injected himself’ into intelligence community discussions about the lab-leak theory.
Before Fauci’s intervention, Erdman said, the intelligence community was about to conclude that a Chinese lab had been the source of the pandemic.
In another blow to Fauci, David Morens, one of his former top aides, was indicted earlier this year for allegedly concealing and altering evidence.
An email from Morens appeared to show him proclaiming he had learned ‘how to make emails disappear’ to avoid FOIA requests.
The Daily Mail reached out to a representative for Fauci for comment on the subpoena.
