Fox News host Brian Kilmeade blasted former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday after newly released journal entries from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic reignited debate over the government’s response to the virus.
The remarks came during Tuesday’s edition of Fox & Friends, where the hosts discussed journal entries from 2020 that were released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Among the entries highlighted was one in which Fauci described himself as “the most famous and talked about person” in America as the pandemic unfolded.
As the panel reviewed the journal entries, co-host Steve Doocy noted what he viewed as a disconnect between Fauci’s private writings and his public comments during the pandemic.
“A lot of the stuff he wrote down was different than what he was telling us,” Doocy said.
Kilmeade responded with sharp criticism of the former health official, accusing Fauci of repeatedly changing his positions throughout the pandemic.
“This guy’s a maniac,” Kilmeade said. “We knew he was lying. We knew he was changing his opinions and the statements and his policies per interview.”
Kilmeade continued by criticizing Fauci’s public profile during the pandemic, saying the former NIAID chief embraced attention from political figures and celebrities while schools across the country remained heavily affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
“We watched how he reveled in the left-wing causes and with the crazy Hollywood celebrities who couldn’t get enough of him while he was torturing children in school, keeping them from talking to each other, keeping them out of schools forever while denying he was doing just that,” Kilmeade said.
The Fox News host also argued that Fauci had been wrong on one of the pandemic’s most hotly debated issues—the origin of the virus.
“In terms of the most vital information, for example, the source of Covid-19, it came from the lab,” Kilmeade said. “We said of course it came [from the lab].”
Following Kilmeade’s remarks, the program aired a montage of previous public statements in which Fauci said the virus originated in Wuhan wet markets.
After the video concluded, co-host Ainsley Earhardt pointed to what she described as a difference between Fauci’s public messaging and what was reflected in his private journal entries before his congressional testimony.
“So that’s what he was saying in public, but what he was writing in his diary just three and a half months before that first testimony, he was saying something totally different,” Earhardt said.
Earhardt also discussed the show’s characterization of the virus’s origin, stating that the market was not the source but rather served as an amplifier of the outbreak.
“Now we know the market was not the source, it was the amplifier,” she said. “Having said that, somewhere, the virus jumped from animals to humans.”
The discussion centered on the contrast the Fox & Friends hosts said they saw between Fauci’s public statements during the COVID-19 pandemic and the journal entries released by Sen. Paul, with Kilmeade arguing the writings raise additional questions about the former health official’s actions and messaging during one of the most consequential public health crises in recent history.
