RFK Jr says Fauci prioritized ‘getting on TV’ over public health after revealing diary release
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. condemned Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday after revealing personal diary entries revealed the doctor’s fixation on fame during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"[Fauci’s] focus was on promoting himself, on getting on TV and not doing public health," Kennedy said on "The Ingraham Angle."
The journals, released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chronicle Fauci's day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic, detailing Fauci’s obsession with his newfound fame and his belief that it was "not hyperbole" to say he was "the most famous and talked about person in the country."
Kennedy, who said he is traumatized by Fauci’s falsehoods, said the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases did "incalculable" damage to public health and dismantled the public’s trust.
FAUCI'S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED
"[Fauci] was the expert that they elevated. And anybody who did not give complete blind faith to these expert opinions – which we now know were lies – was marginalized, vilified, demonized, censored," the HHS secretary told host Laura Ingraham.
Fauci, 85, became largely revered as "America’s doctor" as the public looked to him for guidance during 2020 COVID-19 shutdowns.
RFK Jr. strongly criticized the doctor’s "mismanagement" of the pandemic, emphasizing his role in placing the United States at the highest mortality rate in the world at 3,000 deaths per one million people.
"Because of Dr. Fauci's leadership and other reasons, we had the highest mortality rate from COVID of any country in the world," he told Fox News. "We literally did worse than any nation in the world."
The HHS secretary recalled being de-platformed over questioning Fauci’s assertions about the origins of COVID-19, lamenting how many were "vilified" over spreading "misinformation" that was later deemed to be true.
"I pointed out that [COVID-19] almost certainly came from the Wuhan lab and… my Instagram was canceled with a million followers for misinformation," Kennedy explained. "I never put any misinformation up. I put up all the things that we now know are true and it was called misinformation."
Kennedy pointed fingers at Fauci, saying he is to blame for Americans’ lack of trust in public health and added that "they shouldn’t" because they were "lied to."
He also took aim at legacy media organizations for what he described as suppressing dissenting views and vehemently defending Fauci.
"The press was part of this collaboration," RFK Jr said. "It was corrupt, and it did tremendous damage to the media in this country and to Americans’ faith in that very important democratic institution. It also did incalculable damage to public health."
Kennedy argued Fauci could potentially face perjury prosecution as the doctor faces congressional testimony Wednesday about his diary entries and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There are many things that [Fauci] said that we know are lies, and Rand Paul presumably is going to ask him about those things, and if he lies again, then he could be subject to perjury prosecution," he said.
