Dr. Anthony Fauci is back in the spotlight after the release of several thousand COVID-era journal entries. The entries were released by Senator Rand Paul prior to a Senate hearing. “I have said for years that Anthony Fauci cared more about his own image than the truth, and now his own diary proves it,” wrote Paul. In many of the entries, Dr. Fauci focused on the newfound fame he earned as the top brass on COVID response. “The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable person [sic] in the world,” he wrote on May 21, 2020. Other entries appeared to indicate that Dr. Fauci knew more about COVID’s origins than he let on, such as realizing the pandemic did not originate from Chinese wet markets as early as January 2020 while that theory remained the approved narrative. He also appeared to bask in forcing people to take the COVID-19 vaccine to avoid losing their livelihoods. “When you make it difficult for people in their lives, they lose their ideological bulls–t and they get vaccinated,” he wrote.

Fauci’s critics responded to the journal’s revelations as another example of his extreme hubris. “I think his arrogance shows. The Bible talks about ‘professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,’” Rep. Tim Burchett, (R, TN) told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade, citing Romans 1. While Fauci was appointed by President Trump and earned praise early during the pandemic, his popularity quickly waned as the pandemic drew on and he appeared to give mixed messages on the effectiveness of mask, the COVID-19 vaccination, and censored opinions that went against the approved narrative for COVID-19 treatment.

Dr. Fauci faced fierce scrutiny during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Dr. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right over 100 times, refusing to answer questions regarding his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and how his own gain of function research might have impacted the pandemic. Speaking of Senator Paul, Dr. Fauci painted the hearing as a witch hunt. “The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason [Senator Paul] is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote.” “Today will be the capstone to Anthony Fauci’s 40 years of abuse of power at NIH. History will judge, but the facts as we now know them paint a sordid tale of dishonesty, misjudgment and ultimately the hubris, the likes of which the world has never seen,” Senator Paul insisted. Dr. Fauci received a retroactive pardon dating back to 2014, so it remains unclear what, if any repercussions he could possibly face even if he was found to have committed criminal acts. Rand Paul has indicated he could hold Dr. Fauci in contempt.