Rand Paul releases Fauci diaries showing private doubts on lockdowns and mask evidence as early as June 2020
Private diary entries and emails attributed to Anthony Fauci, released by Sen. Rand Paul, reveal that the former NIAID director privately questioned whether lockdowns and closures affected COVID case counts in June 2020. The documents add a policy accountability layer to one of the more consequential economic episodes in recent memory, a period when government money printing tied to lockdown support helped seed the inflation run that followed.
Private diary entries and emails attributed to Anthony Fauci, released by Sen. Rand Paul, reveal that the former NIAID director privately questioned whether lockdowns and closures affected COVID case counts in June 2020. The documents add a policy accountability layer to one of the more consequential economic episodes in recent memory, a period when government money printing tied to lockdown support helped seed the inflation run that followed.
The lockdown paper trail
In a June 18, 2020 message to Deborah Birx, his fellow task force member, Fauci wrote that he had been "obsessing about the increases in cases that do not seem to be related to openings or closings or massive crowds." He described "something inherent here that we are missing." Three months later, in September 2020, he publicly stated that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was "asking for trouble" by reopening the state. His own diary entries describe advising the mayor of New York City and the chief of staff for California Gov. Gavin Newsom on business and school closures. In a 2023 interview with the New York Times, Fauci said: "Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did."
Masks and the April 2020 email
An April 15, 2020 email shows Fauci pushing internally for the administration to align with mask mandates ahead of a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence. His stated rationale: people were already wearing masks in the streets, and the CDC had issued updated guidance less than two weeks earlier. No peer-reviewed studies or new data are cited in the message. The email reads, in part, that he would "give it a pitch" to the vice president.
Lab leak and the mortality gap
Fauci's diary describes a phone call with 12 scientists on the question of COVID's origin. Two concluded a natural source was certain. The other 10 believed "deliberate insertion was possible," citing gain-of-function research underway at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. That private group assessment did not match the public institutional position that held for years afterward.
On mortality, the diary shows Fauci privately estimated the COVID death rate at "more like 0.2-0.3%." Shortly after, he told Fox News' Sean Hannity the figure was likely around 1%, describing it as "10x more lethal than the seasonal flu."
What to watch
Sen. Paul has not indicated whether additional documents will follow. The release also surfaces emails between Fauci and CNN anchor Jake Tapper that Fauci described as building a "friendship," alongside NIH internal communications involving efforts to secure paid awards for Fauci's work during the pandemic.
Related reading
Filed by the newsroom of MarketPR on July 28, 2026. Source: foxnews.com. Indicative figures are not investment advice.