Rand Paul releases Fauci diary with 2019 impeachment remark

Sen. Rand Paul released a 203-page collection of Anthony Fauci’s diary entries, including a January 2019 passage in which the former federal health official wrote that President Donald Trump “should be impeached.” The pages, described as covering 2015 to 2019, include material from years not included in earlier public releases. In the entry, written during a partial government shutdown, Fauci said Trump was acting “more and more bizarre.” He also noted concern that impeachment could galvanize Trump’s supporters. The diary records Fauci’s private assessment; its publication does not establish wrongdoing by either man. Paul, a Republican senator who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the records as part of a broader effort to scrutinize Fauci’s conduct and government records. The pages are a selection of diary material released through Paul, rather than an independent examination of the full underlying records. Other entries trace Fauci’s criticism of Trump to before he took office in January 2017. In 2016, Fauci commented on Trump’s debate performance, and in 2017 he criticized the president and members of his administration.