Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, July 29, 2026 Non-AI Real World News

As thousands of Americans were dying while millions more suffered under the draconian Covid restrictions he pushed, Anthony Fauci was having the time of his life.

Newly released emails and diary entries show that he was cultivating and socializing with the very people who would not only shield him from responsibility but also elevate him to celebrity status. He was living his dream.

But Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment throughout Wednesday’s Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing. Understandable perhaps as the record now reveals his state of mind during the months when he was arguably the most powerful man on Earth.

The diaries detail Fauci’s conversations with Trump Administration officials, governors, world leaders, media appearances and his personal observations as the pandemic unfolded.

Fauci made fast friends with members of legacy media who were tasked with covering the pandemic as well as with top officials in the White House.

Related: Time for Covid prosecutions and nothing less, July 27, 2026

His BFF apparently was CNN’s Jake Tapper. Fauci mentioned Tapper 41 times in the diary. In July 2020, Fauci wrote about that budding and prized relationship.

“Had dinner over Jake Tapper and Jen Tapper’s home in DC. Terrific couple. Friendship building.”

Later that month, Fauci wrote that he “gave Jake some questions to ask” pediatrician Brett Giroir during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” But Tapper would later express frustration, waking Fauci up in the process.

“Tapper woke me up at 11:23 AM (I went to bed early) furius [sic] at POTUS for tweeting about the fact that Jake severly [sic] questioned Brett Giroir on SOTU CNN show today. Jake was really pissed at the craziness of it all,” Fauci wrote.

Fauci could not stay mad at his new pal. He invited Tapper to dinner at his home months later.

“Had dinner at my home with Jake and Jennifer Tapper. Relaxed, good time. Jake clearly believes that Trump is totally nuts,” Fauci wrote on Oct. 23, 2020.

Fauci was quite cozy with several CNN personalities.

CNN’s Dana Bash sent Fauci a text message in April 2021 after a contentious House Select Subcommittee hearing over Covid, according to the diary. Bash complimented Fauci and informed the doctor that her CNN colleague also picked a side.

“Dana Bash sent me a text: ‘I just watched the whole Jordan thing. Again, you’re a better man than I …. As our friend Wolf Blitzer said to me yesterday — no one would have blamed you if you said simply ‘Mr. Jordan, go f— yourself,’ ” Fauci wrote.

Fauci also had a texting relationship with then-NBC News host Chuck Todd.

“I had a really nice conversation with Chuck Todd this morning. He had texted me to ask what I thought of the interview yesterday. I told him that I thought it was absolutely terrific, but I wanted some advice from him. I asked him whether he thought that I should pull back from publicly defending myself against the slanderous attacks since that might call more attention to them,” Fauci wrote.

Fauci’s self-aggrandizing information war also sucked in several officials in the first Trump Administration, the diary entries show.

One of the Trump officials who backed him was Hope Hicks, a counselor to the president and former White House communications director, whom Fauci described as “very nice” after their first meeting in March 2020.

Fauci soon wrote that Hicks appeared to view him as a “future ally” after seeming uncomfortable with Trump’s desire for the Covid team to hold two press briefings a day to boost morale and the economy through public transparency.

With his new ally Hicks at his side, Fauci would describe how the new dynamic duo would convince Trump not to reopen the country for Easter in 2020.

Frustrated with the continued shutdown of the economy and the country, Trump called Hicks and Fauci into the Oval Office to discuss reopening. Fauci wrote that Trump was “almost pleading” not to extend the country’s closure beyond the 30-day lockdown extension.

According to Fauci, Trump said he was destroying the country and that sports leagues and industry would be devastated by the administration’s recommendations.

In an attempt to appeal to Fauci’s Catholic background, Trump proposed reopening the country for Easter, Good Friday and Palm Sunday, suggesting that Masses could be held outdoors or in a drive-in format, but Fauci said he wasn’t persuaded by the president’s recommendation.

“Hope Hicks and I convinced him to essentially put Easter on hold for this year,” Fauci wrote.

Fauci also chronicled Alyssa Farah’s tenure as White House Communications Director, describing how she worked to get him in front of as many cameras as possible while attempting to silence and remove officials who publicly questioned him.

“She said that she would want me on every day and every night. However, the POTUS keeps saying that the Doctors are contradicting him and he is very impulsive and so when he sees or hears about a contradiction he blows up,” Fauci wrote in August 2020.

He later described the administration’s press operation as “dysfunctional even though I believe that Alyssa is a good person.”

Fauci’s journaling also showed that he built a strong relationship with both Vice President Mike Pence and his chief of staff, Marc Short, even stating on multiple occasions how much he liked them and how it appeared the feeling was mutual.

Meanwhile, newly released emails show how two immunology researchers who nominated Fauci for awards that carried substantial cash prizes went on to receive millions of dollars in research funding from Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAD), the Washington Examiner reported.

Email exchanges between Fauci and those scientists show that Fauci, in some cases, solicited the award submissions, supplied all of the supporting material himself, and even performed a bulk of the work that the recommendations entailed.

“The records raise the obvious question of a quid-pro-quo given the large amount of prize money at hand,” Sen. Rand Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a 136-page release of Fauci’s communication files.

Paul is ordering the committee to hold a vote next week to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer any questions at Wednesday’s hearing.

“I really did want to hear from Dr. Fauci. I wanted to hear, perhaps, an apology, perhaps some semblance of being sorry for what happened or judgement errors were made. We didn’t hear any of that,” Paul said.

“It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions for your refusal to testify today, ” Paul warned Fauci.

Paul had Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, escorted out of the hearing after he sat at the witness table and tried to speak. Paul said he was not recognized by the committee.

“I certainly understand why you needed a pardon,” Sen. Ron Johnson said. Fauci also refused to answer Johnson’s questions about his decisions to not recommend some antivirals. Calling the vaccine an “experimental gene therapy,” Johnson said that Fauci failed to follow safety surveillance systems for monitoring adverse reactions to drugs used to treat Covid.

Johnson said Fauci suppressed those results and countervailing health information that may have countered the prevailing narrative on treatments, and he accused him of “sabotaging” the use of generic drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in order to get emergency use authorizations for new and untested pharmaceuticals.

WHOA: Sen. Rand Paul has had enough of Fauci’s antics, orders his attorney to be REMOVED from the hearing pic.twitter.com/rtRQiEPvDh

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026

Freedom Rocks! Until It Is Gone

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