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Despite denying on multiple occasions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic that he personally recommended lockdowns, excerpts revealed from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private diary prove a clear contradiction.
In a March 15, 2020, entry in the diary, which begins with “BIG DAY!” written in red letters, Fauci, then the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) recalled a striking conversation he had with then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“I spoke with Bill de Blasio (Mayor – NYC) and convinced him based on what I was saying publicly and my conversation tonight to close the NYC schools (he had already decided based on what I was saying on TV),” Fauci revealed in his private notes.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about the COVID-19 response in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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“I had a similar call with Ann O’Leary, the [Chief of Staff] of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California,” this particular entry went on. “Ann said that based on my TV appearances today and yesterday, the Governor has decided to close the schools in California as well as the bars and restaurants.”
But seven months later, on an Oct. 16, 2022 interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Fauci denied any involvement in inspiring lockdowns.
“Let’s go back and look at the transcript. We said we should try as best as we possibly can to keep the children in school,” Fauci said. “Nobody plays that clip.”
“They always come back and say, ‘Fauci was responsible for shutting schools down.’ I had nothing to do [with it]!” he insisted at the time.
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In 2022 he told The Hill that he “didn’t recommend locking anything down,” clearly going against his own privately recorded entries.
In January 9, 2024, years after the end of lockdowns ended, Fauci testified the same thing before the House Oversight Committee.
“I did not close the schools,” he said, according to the hearing transcript. And it became the widespread situation where I became a political target.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on July 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C. (Getty Images)
Fauci recommended to government leaders lockdown measures besides just closing schools, which he would also later deny.
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In the March 15, 2020, diary entry, Fauci, once the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said he directed de Blasio to close the city’s bars.
“I went on to tell him he should close the bars and restaurants in NYC. He said that he would base this on my recommendation,” Fauci wrote.
Five days later, he said he told the mayor to close all of New York City.
“Also, had phone call with Major de Blasio who wants to go to ‘shelter in place for the entire city.[‘] He is asking my advice since Gov. Cuomo is pushing back. I advised DeBlasio [sic] to go ahead and do it. I will try to speak with Cuomo,” the entry said.
2020 Democratic presidential candidate and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visits FOX Business Network’s “Bulls & Bears” in New York City on Aug. 13, 2019. (Steven Ferdman/Getty Images)
On March 29, 2020, Fauci recounted a tense meeting with President Donald Trump, who he described as “incorrigible.”
The goal of the meeting was to get the president to extend lockdowns after the initial “15 days to stop the spread” period, which began on March 16 of 2020 — about a month after the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in the U.S.
“At the end of the day it was a good outcome since we convinced him to go with 30 day (sic) instead of ending the mitigation prematurely, which I feel would be a disaster,” Fauci said.
In a November 28, 2020, diary entry, he recalled lending support to a Los Angeles County health official who wanted to lock the county down.
“Got call last night from Mark Ghaly (Deputy Director for Community Health for the LA County Dept of Health Services). He has called me several times for advice,” the diary says. “Frantic call saying that they are surging in LA County and very soon hospital beds will be overrun. He wants to do a 3 weeks shutdown of the city to ‘stop the surge’ and wants my support since there is a large pushback to locking down. I agreed to support him.”
A signboard reminds people of the face covering requirement as pedestrians wear facemasks due to the coronavirus in Los Angeles, California on November 12, 2020. – European and world leaders on November 12, 2020 insisted that when Covid-19 vaccines are launched they should be made a available to everyone, under an international project which still needs $28 billion of funding. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) ((Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images))
But again in 2022, when he joined The Hill’s “Rising” podcast, Fauci denied responsibility for lockdowns.
“Well, you know, again, first of all, I didn’t recommend locking anything down,” he claimed. “You’re asking me questions. You’re talking about the CDC is the public health agency that uses their epidemiologists and their science-based approach to make recommendations…”
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Despite his own denials, Fauci himself told CBS news in the midst of the 2020 chaos that he was behind the lockdowns.
“When it became clear that we had community spread in the country, with a few cases of community spread — this was way before there was a major explosion like we saw in the northeastern corridor driven by New York City metropolitan area — I recommended to the president that we shut the country down,” he said on Oct. 7, 2020.