Fauci's journal entries on COVID origins released by Sen. Paul ahead of hearing

Republican Sen. Rand Paul has released more than a thousand pages of journal entries from Dr. Anthony Fauci, setting the stage for a contentious hearing on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul, who leads the Senate Homeland Security Committee, subpoenaed the former top infectious disease expert to appear before the panel as part of its investigation into how the coronavirus emerged.

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we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier

Paul, a proponent of the theory that the virus originated from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, has long accused Fauci and other government officials of misleading the public and Congress about the outbreak's source. The released journal entries span from December 2019, shortly before the U.S. declared a public health emergency, to December 2022, when Fauci stepped down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases after nearly four decades.

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somewhere the virus jumped from animals to humans.

While many scientists believe the virus likely emerged naturally from bats and spread to humans through an intermediate species at a Wuhan market, the FBI has assessed that a "lab incident in Wuhan" is the "most likely" origin. The CIA also issued an assessment in January 2025 favoring the "lab leak" hypothesis, though with "low confidence."

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you say one thing to 'Dear Diary' while telling the public 'it's implausible that it came from the lab... But that level of dishonesty is really astounding.'

Some of Fauci's diary entries reveal his initial uncertainty. In January 2020, he wrote, "we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier," but added, "somewhere the virus jumped from animals to humans." Around the same time, he noted a conference call where experts considered the possibility that the coronavirus did not originate in nature. Paul criticized Fauci, stating, "you say one thing to 'Dear Diary' while telling the public 'it's implausible that it came from the lab... But that level of dishonesty is really astounding.'" An entry from May 26, 2021, shows Fauci addressing press reports about his "flip flopping" on the origin theory, reiterating his belief in a natural origin while acknowledging the amount of discussion around other possibilities.

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The situation continues to get 'out of control' with regard to the press reports concerning my 'flip flopping' concerning the theory of the origin of the virus. I had always said that the very highly likelihood is that the virus originated naturally from an animal reservoir jumping to a human.