00:00Dr. Anthony Fauci is headed to Capitol Hill today to face a grilling from Senator Rand Paul and the Senate
00:06Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
00:09It is sure to be the latest in a long line of verbal battles between the two men.
00:14If you need proof of the animosity, Senator Paul, who chairs the committee, has already released over a thousand pages
00:21of Fauci's personal diary.
00:23The Kentucky Republican is arguing that the diary entries reveal a public health official who was overly worried about his
00:30celebrity, personal image, and media narrative during a time of national emergency.
00:35The entries shed light on Fauci's COVID response, sure, but the pages also show how he responded to the so
00:41-called Beaglegate controversy.
00:43The records, released by Senator Paul, show Fauci believed there was a coordinated effort to damage his reputation over NIH
00:51-funded experiments that used Beagle puppies in research.
00:55The diaries also reveal Fauci turned to what he called his media friends for help pushing back against the criticism,
01:02including a Washington Post reporter who, according to his notes, was preparing a story about the campaign against him.
01:08Fauci also wrote that former President Barack Obama called him to offer support, even suggesting the Biden White House should
01:16take a more aggressive public role in defending him.
01:19The controversy stemmed from an NIH-funded study in which Beagle puppies were used in research involving sandflies before being
01:27euthanized.
01:28At the time, Fauci publicly said he didn't know the details of the grant, though he later testified to Congress
01:33that he had signed off on the funding after it cleared the scientific review process.
01:39Supporters say the diaries show a scientist under political attack, while critics argue they reveal a behind-the-scenes effort
01:46to manage the public narrative during one of the biggest controversies of Fauci's career.
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