Dr. Anthony Fauci Caught — Republicans Hold Up One Piece of Paper That Should Land Him in Jail

Posted August 2, 2026

It’s been five years since the country was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, but for many Americans, it seems like yesterday.

The lockdowns, the missed graduations and funerals, the school closures that led to a generation of children getting behind in their education, the lost businesses – it all amounted to a years-long nightmare for the vast majority of our country.

But it turns out that the man who essentially prescribed it all – former top immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci – lied to Americans about a crucial coronavirus fact: That it was nowhere near as deadly as he claimed it was.

That’s according to his own diary, a copy of which was obtained by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Republicans ahead of Fauci’s Senate testimony earlier this week.

According to what he wrote, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases boss told the American public that the COVID death rate was 2 to 2.5 percent but privately recorded in his diary that it was “more like 0.2-0.3%.”

Paul, who chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, released the diary ahead of Fauci’s appearance before the committee on Tuesday.

In a February 2020 journal entry, Fauci recorded the number of COVID-19 cases and gushed over his fame brought on by numerous media appearances.

He also wrote that he believed the virus’s mortality rate was “more like 0.2-0.3% rather than 2.0%.”

Fauci wrote:

Tom Frieden called me this AM and we discussed various aspects of the outbreak. He and I are on the same page in thinking tht [sic] this is acting like a bad influenza in its transmissibility and that the denominator is much greater than 34,867 (above) making the case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 % rather than 2.0%.

But that isn’t what Fauci was saying publicly at the time.

During a March appearance on Fox News’ ‘Hannity,’ Fauci told host Sean Hannity that the virus’s mortality rate was “about two, two and a half percent.”

“The mortality for seasonal flu is 0.1. The mortality for this is about two, two and a half percent,” he said.

“It’s probably lower than that. It’s probably closer to one,” he added.

“But even if it’s one, it’s ten times more lethal than the seasonal flu. You got to make sure that people understand,” Fauci said.

The same month he made the same apparently claim during congressional testimony.

“Well, understand that the seasonal flu that we deal with every year has a mortality of 0.1 percent. The stated mortality overall of this, when you look at all the data, including China, is about 3 percent,” he testified. I

“t first started off as two, and now three. I think if you count all the cases of minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic infection, that probably brings the mortality rate down to somewhere around one percent, which means it is ten times more lethal than the seasonal flu,” he continued.

“I think that’s something that people can get their arms around and understand. I mean, people always say, well, the flu,” Fauci told lawmakers.

“You know, the flu does this. The flu does that. The flu has a mortality of 0.1 percent,” he said.

“This has a mortality of 10 times that. And that’s the reason why I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this,” Fauci noted.

Republicans were outraged by Fauci’s fawning accounts of himself in his diary as well as the differences between his public and private statements regarding the virus itself.

“In January 2020, I warned China was lying and the COVID virus almost certainly came from China’s coronavirus lab,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told Breitbart News.

“Tony Fauci’s diary shows how he worked with the liberal media to smear me, cover for China, and lie to the American people,” he said.

“Fauci is a lying disgrace who should be prosecuted. And the left must never be given power again.”

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CBS Host LOSES IT After Sen. Kennedy FACT CHECKS Her Trump LIES… THIS GOT BAD!...

CBS Host PRESSES John Kennedy on Trump’s Spending — His Answer Takes an Unexpected Turn

The interview began with some of the biggest questions facing Washington: the conflict with Iran, rising fuel costs, and the approaching midterm elections. But when Republican Senator John Kennedy appeared on Face the Nation with CBS host Margaret Brennan, the conversation quickly moved toward an issue that could shape the political debate for months to come: how the government spends taxpayers’ money.

Kennedy did not pretend that the economic pressure facing American families was insignificant. He argued that voters were far more concerned about the cost of living than the daily battles playing out on television. With oil prices affected by disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz, he said, the consequences of foreign policy were reaching directly into household budgets.

Kennedy Brings the Conversation Back to Affordability

Kennedy’s message to the White House was unusually direct. He predicted that the midterm elections would be close and argued that Republicans needed to keep their attention on the financial concerns of ordinary Americans.

“When moms and dads lie down to sleep at night and can't,” Kennedy told Brennan, they are worried about the cost of living.

He also called for a nationwide address explaining why the United States entered the conflict with Iran, what the administration hoped to achieve, and how it intended to bring the situation to a conclusion.

His position was not a blanket rejection of the administration’s strategy. Kennedy defended continued pressure on Iran while acknowledging the economic consequences of the partially closed strait. He opposed sending American troops into the situation, warning that deploying them could create a new set of problems.

That combination—support for pressure abroad alongside concern about prices at home—set the tone for the rest of the interview.

image

Nearly $1 Billion in Cuts Sparks a Constitutional Dispute

The conversation became more pointed when Brennan asked about the White House’s decision to cancel nearly $1 billion in previously approved federal funding without congressional consent.

Brennan raised concerns expressed by Senator Susan Collins, the Republican chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, who argued that the move threatened Congress’s constitutional authority over federal spending.

Kennedy disagreed.

“I love Susan like a taco, but she's wrong,” he said before explaining his view that Congress often appropriates money in broad categories, leaving agencies with considerable discretion over how funds are ultimately used.

He then deployed the phrase that would become the interview’s most memorable sound bite: “Spending porn.”

Kennedy used the expression to criticize what he considers wasteful government expenditures, pointing to funding for circumcision programs in Zambia and electric buses in Rwanda. He also argued that Congress should take greater responsibility for identifying and eliminating spending it believes is unnecessary.

But the disagreement was about more than whether particular programs were worthwhile. It raised a larger question: when Congress approves funding, how much authority should the executive branch have to cancel or redirect it?

Kennedy defended the cuts, while Brennan’s question highlighted the legal and constitutional objections. The interview did not resolve that dispute, but it brought the competing arguments into sharp focus.

image

Then Kennedy Turned the Standard on Trump

The most revealing moment came when Brennan shifted from the proposed cuts to taxpayer-funded advertising.

She asked Kennedy about a government-funded commercial prominently featuring President Donald Trump and praising his leadership. The question echoed earlier controversy surrounding former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department had spent $220 million on a border-security advertising campaign in which she appeared prominently.

Kennedy had previously criticized Noem’s campaign. Now, with Trump featured in another advertisement paid for by the federal government, Brennan asked whether that spending was appropriate.

Kennedy’s response was notable because he explicitly included his own political allies—and himself—in the principle he was defending.

“I don't think any public official, including President Trump or Kristi Noem or John Kennedy, should spend public money on private ads for themselves,” he said.

He acknowledged that the White House viewed the issue differently but argued that public funds should not be used to promote individual politicians. He also suggested that politicians should not have buildings named after them while they are still alive.

That answer complicated any attempt to portray his position as simply a defense of the administration. Kennedy supported the proposed spending cuts, but he also applied his criticism of taxpayer-funded self-promotion to Trump.

The Real Takeaway From the Interview

The exchange was not a shouting match, nor does the published transcript establish that Brennan lost her composure or that Kennedy fact-checked a series of false statements from her. What it does show is a pointed discussion about economic priorities, congressional spending authority, and whether public money should be used to enhance a politician’s image.

Kennedy’s argument was straightforward: families are worried about affordability, government spending deserves scrutiny, and the rules should apply regardless of party.

Whether viewers agree with his assessment of the proposed cuts is a separate question. The legal dispute over executive spending authority and the debate over taxpayer-funded political advertising deserve examination beyond a few memorable television lines.

The moment worth watching is when Brennan moves from criticizing government spending in general to asking Kennedy about an advertisement featuring Trump himself. That is where the discussion becomes more complicated—and where Kennedy’s stated principle is tested against his own party’s leadership.

Watch the full interview through the link below to hear the exchange in context and decide how convincing each side’s argument really was.