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The Lie |
The Facts |
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Lie 1: "Fauci lied about masks." The Claim:
repeatedly asserts Fauci intentionally lied to the public to manipulate them
or that his changing guidance proved he was deceptive. |
In March 2020 (the early weeks of the pandemic),
public health officials—including Fauci—advised the general public against
buying N95 surgical masks to prevent a severe shortage for front-line
healthcare workers, given the initial belief that COVID-19 spread primarily
through large droplets and surfaces. As airborne transmission and
asymptomatic spread became clear in April 2020, guidance shifted to universal
cloth mask-wearing. Scientific adaptation to new data was re-framed by
critics as a malicious "lie." |
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Lie 2: "Fauci created/funded COVID-19 in
Wuhan." The Claim: Repeated claims state that Fauci personally
authorized "gain-of-function" research at the Wuhan Institute of
Virology that directly created the SARS-CoV-2 virus. |
While the National Institutes of Health (NIH) did
fund grants to EcoHealth Alliance for bat coronavirus research in China,
independent scientific panels, the NIH, and intelligence reviews clarified
that the specific bat coronaviruses studied under those sub-grants were
genetically distinct from SARS-CoV-2 and could not have evolved into the
pandemic virus. The political rhetoric, however, repeats the "Fauci
created the virus" line to frame a public servant as a criminal
perpetrator. Some circles suggest
there was homicidal intent. |
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Lie 3: "Fauci personally forced lockdowns and
school closures." The Claim:
characterizes lockdowns, school closures, and business restrictions as
unilateral mandates handed down personally by "Dictator Fauci." |
Under the U.S. federal system, public health
mandates (closing schools, restricting indoor dining, stay-at-home orders)
were legally enacted by state governors and local public health
departments—not federal advisory scientists. Fauci served as an advisor whose
task force issued recommendations, but he lacked any statutory executive
power to pass laws or order closures. |
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Lie 4: "Fauci
lied when he said vaccines stop 100% of transmission." The Claim:
Asserts that public health officials promised the original COVID-19 vaccines
would permanently block all infection and transmission, calling subsequent
variant breakthrough cases "proof of a lie." |
Clinical trials in late 2020 measured efficacy
against symptomatic disease (which was ~95% for original strains). While
early real-world data showed significant reduction in transmission against
original variants, the emergence of mutated variants (like Delta and Omicron)
eroded protection against infection while maintaining strong protection
against severe illness and death. The shift in viral evolution was reframed
as a deliberate institutional falsehood. |
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Lie 5: “Fauci made millions of dollars directly off
the COVID-19 pandemic.” The Claim: made millions through secret royalty
checks paid by pharmaceutical companies for COVID-19 vaccines. The claim
frames him not as an independent public health scientist, but as a
compromised figure using federal authority to enrich himself and corporate
allies. In this hearing there was a
comments that he was “enriching himself through the use of federal employees.” There has also been a longstanding complain
that Dr. Fauci is the “highest paid federal employee and he makes more than
the President.” That is true but it is
full disclosure and according to federal regulations. |
-Dr. Fauci holds no patents and receives no
royalties related to any COVID-19 vaccines or treatments (including the
Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines). -FOIA disclosures obtained by watchdog groups showed
that the NIH and its scientists received third-party royalties for older,
pre-pandemic medical innovations (such as early HIV/AIDS research from
decades prior). However, sensationalist headlines falsely claimed that these
past, unrelated payments were "COVID-19 vaccine profits." -Dr. Fauci has repeatedly stated—dating back to
interviews with the Associated Press and BMJ in 2004/2005—that he attempted
to refuse statutory royalty payments from earlier research (such as an
interleukin-2 treatment developed for HIV/AIDS) because he felt it posed a
potential conflict of interest. Because
federal law required the agency to issue the funds, Fauci pledged to donate
100% of his royalty payments to charity. -Federal Salary: As the former Director of the
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Chief
Medical Advisor, Dr. Fauci was one of the highest-paid federal civil
servants, earning a fixed annual government salary (~$480,000 before his
retirement in late 2022). This salary was set by federal civil service pay
scales, completely independent of vaccine sales or corporate profits. - Public Filings: Under the Ethics in Government
Act, Fauci’s financial disclosures—including his investments, stock holdings,
and outside income—are subject to
strict federal conflict-of-interest audits and are a matter of public record.
His filings show no stock holdings in individual pharmaceutical companies;
his personal investments are held in broad mutual funds, municipal bonds, and
standard retirement accounts. income—are subject to strict federal
conflict-of-interest audits and are a matter of public record. His filings
show no stock holdings in individual pharmaceutical companies; his personal
investments are held in broad mutual funds, municipal bonds, and standard
retirement accounts. -In February 2021, Tel Aviv University awarded Dr.
Fauci the Dan David Prize for lifetime achievement in public health and his
leadership during the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 crises. After tax withholdings and administrative fees,
the direct deposit received by Fauci totaled $899,960. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)
ethics office has long-standing regulations (5 C.F.R. § 2635.204(g)) that
allow federal researchers and doctors to accept bona fide, prestigious awards
for scientific achievement from non-profit or educational institutions,
provided the award is approved by an agency ethics officer. Before accepting the Dan David Prize (and
other academic honors throughout his 50-year career), Fauci submitted the
award for official NIH ethics review, which formally authorized him to accept
the cash prize. |
I saw the various clips but don’t have to watch the entire
debacle. It was the usual exercise in
rhetoric as I watched the US slide farther and farther from reality. After all this was a debate about the COVID pandemic
that officially ran from March 11, 2020 to May 5, 2023. It has been over for more than 3 years. The argument can easily be made there are
more pressing public health and safety problems at this point ( foodborne
illness outbreaks, vaccine preventable disease outbreaks (measles, pertussis),
toxicology emergencies (lead poisoning), wildfires, that are direct products of the policies of this
administration and currently endanger thousands of Americans.
In addition, the elimination of Medicaid and SNAP benefits
endanger millions more. Medicaid is the nation's
largest payer of mental health and substance use disorder care, and the
primary funding vehicle for addressing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH)
(housing, food security, and transportation).
Medicaid is also the single largest payer
of maternity care in the US covering 40% of all births. In the midst of
those problems the HHS Secretary has decided that he knows something about
mental health and has decided he knows more about what medications and
treatments people with those disorders need to take. So why is the pandemic being relitigated
while this administration is ironically making American unhealthy again?
The most straightforward answer is because they can. Trump and his allies have tapped in to strong
anti-science, anti-knowledge, and anti-expert biases in the US and used them to
their advantage. They routinely
scapegoat and vilify anyone who they consider to be an enemy or outsider and
that is a very low bar. To end up in the
enemy camp – all you have to do is disagree with them. Disagreement is easy when they have produced
so many ideological decisions that have no rational basis. The list of those irrational decisions can
fill volumes at this point. I will focus
on the dynamics of the Fauci hearing.
This hearing was clearly a set up by Paul, and Fauci made
that point in his opening statement – specifically that Paul had an unhealthy
obsession with him and had threatened to jail him. This is apparently because
of Paul’s conspiracy theory that the COVID virus (SARS-CoV-2) was a virus
modified in a Chinese lab and accidentally released. He claims that Fauci knew something about
this despite Fauci’s diary entry of 2021 documenting that the latest genetic
information made manufacture in a lab an impossibility. The remainder of the
hearing was essentially Fauci taking the Fifth Amendment against
self-incrimination. Anyone who knows how
the government works would be foolish to start any discussion in such a biased
proceeding. That is especially true in the case of Fauci who has a pardon from
former President Biden. In this setting it is easy to suggest perjury incidents
and file those charges in the absence of any real evidence for the original
charge.
At least some of the impetus for these hearings was the personal
diary of Dr. Fauci. Paul apparently
was given this access by HHS Secretary Kennedy who discovered it on their
servers. At this point I do not know if
it was Dr. Fauci’s naiveté about recording personal notes on a government
server or something else. I do know that
it is common sense that diaries are not written for public disclosure. To publish this as Paul has done shows that
it is all part of a general smear campaign and an attempt to suggest that the
things nobody says out loud are really “lies”.
Like almost all of the current governments tactics this all
comes down to rhetoric at several levels.
The first is just the usual scapegoating and rage-bating. Fauci is an intellectual, an elite, etc. He is not like the rest of us but he likes to
tell us all what to do. This is our
chance to rise up and throw him in jail.
Of course, the rage baiting caused more problems than that for Dr. Fauci
and his family. He has been threatened
with harm and many of those threats were considered serious. He had a government
security detail from 2022 until it was terminated by Trump on January 24,
2025. It has not prevented further public threats in some cases by public figures
who have no idea who Dr. Fauci is or what he has accomplished. They are generally focused on one of the lies
in the above table.
I thought about adding a section here on the academic
references to the various rhetorical devices used by autocrats and fascists. But I will keep it simple. Trump and his administration use them all to
distort reality, provoke anger in his base, and further divide the country. One of his advisors was very clear about it
and called it “flooding the zone.” There
is plenty written about that process in academic references, but you can see
how it works in real time just by watching the news every day. Trump promotes
the lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” and none of his cabinet nominees
will answer that question in Congressional hearings. Suddenly we have unconstitutional interference
with local elections and pending federal legislation that will eliminate tens
of thousands of eligible voters.
The pattern is clear.
Initiate a divisive issue, never admit it is false or involves any wrongdoing,
and keep repeating it. Ignore the
fallout even if that includes casualties on the streets of Minnesota or in an unnecessary
war. Blame everyone else and never
acknowledge mistakes even when they are obvious to everyone else. Academic
references about logical fallacies are unnecessary in these scenarios. This is
where the lies about Anthony Fauci come from.
When he was coming up with solutions to the horror of the pandemic,
Trump and his cohort were suggesting bleach, ivermectin, and hydroxychloroquine
– all completely ineffective and in some cases dangerous. In fact with the “pile on” effect from this
hearing one of those cabinet members took to social media to claim he had
stockpiles of hydroxychloroquine that would have saved thousands of people. That is another completely inaccurate claim.
In the final
analysis. It all comes down to whether or not you are a rational person. You may feel encapsulated by a Democrat or
Republican label. That clearly does not
insulate you from unnecessary wars, the erosion of civil rights, the dismantling
of the public health infrastructure, a deteriorating climate and environment, a
worsening health care system, diversion of most economic resources to the
wealthy, enabling convicted criminals and fraudsters to commit further crimes and trying to reimburse them for jail time, and
using government resources to attack innocent American citizens. It does not insulate you from the fact that
we have an administration that has appointed people to serve in the cabinet who
have no qualifications. None of this passes muster as politics as usual much
less rational decision-making.
So – be a rational person.
Respond to facts and not rhetoric. Notice when there is an appeal to
your emotion rather than your decision-making. Recognize the obvious fallacies
when you see them – like the frequent name-calling and witch hunts.
Get the USA back on track again…
George Dawson, MD, DFAPA
Supplementary 1:
The American Public Health Association (APHA) has come out on social
media in support of Dr. Fauci. Several
medical organizations have done
this in the past related to COVID and HIV controversies. It is time that
every physician organization does the same thing and does it now. I have been an elected official in physician
organizations and there is always a “big-tent” concern. In this case that would mean supporting Dr.
Fauci would alienate any dues paying Republicans. As I hope to have pointed out
in the above post – this is larger than political labels. In the above table you can choose to be in
column 1 or column 2. Column 2 is the
rational choice.
Supplementary 2: If you want to see how some of these lies played out in real time - I have a post here that recorded some of what football star Aaron Rodgers had to say about Dr. Fauci back in 2024. Mercifully the video has been taken down but the lies and distortions are still all there. He goes even further suggesting that both the HIV and COVID pandemics were created to respond to only specific drugs and enrich Dr. Fauci and Pharma. I am not saying that Rodgers is lying but he certainly is repeating them almost exactly as outlined in the above table. The information to refute his assertions was widely available at the time and in the case of HIV for decades earlier.
Supplementary 3: Commentators on this issue always soft pedal any direct confrontation of the lie. For exam on Lie #2 - Fauci funded the creation of the pathological COVID virus (already walked back by Sen. Paul to GOF and not the pandemic virus) it is common to hear: "Well I don't agree with that but I do disagree with the way the pandemic was handled." First off what part do you disagree with? Fauci's job was keeping up with the research and trying to change guidance on the fly while hospitals were overwhelmed and tens of thousands of people were dying. Anyone in that situation is going to make what they consider to be the most conservative recommendation to save the most people. Secondly, by making that hedging statement you are endorsing Lie #3. Fauci did not personally close down anything. That was all local officials.
Supplementary 4: I have a great interest in airborne viruses. Because of that interest I documented the transition in thinking about COVID transmission from droplet nuclei to airborne on this blog. The date was April 8, 2020. This confirms row 1 in the table.
Supplementary 5: Highly recommend the nonpartisan Annenberg Foundation's FactCheck.org to fact check anything this party or administration has to say about Dr. Fauci or the COVID pandemic.
Supplementary 6: Since I posted this around noon on August 1, 2026 I have heard the following in the media:
"Fauci is responsible for 8 or 9 millions deaths."
"Fauci is worse than Joseph Mengele."
And from a national comedian: "Of course Fauci lied about gain of function."
No he did not. All of these statements confirm what is said in the body of my post and will probably be repeated every day if you are paying attention. To be a rational person you have to be intentional. All of these inaccurate statements cannot be brushed off or in the case of comedians - laughed at. Pick a column and stay there.
8/2/2026: Day 2 of the Fauci hysteria. Many people have taken to social media to reinforce the message of the MAGA Republicans today portraying Fauci as a megalomaniac and blaming him for everything from vaccination side effects to their kid having to wear a dirty mask to school for 8 days in a row. One of the worst examples I have seen was an excerpt posted about a meeting with a CIA official that supposedly informed him of a lab leak and suggesting he covered this up. It is clear from the diary entry that he considered both the information and informant unreliable and actually suspicious. This same author likened the situation to finding out Dick Cheney wrote in his diary that he knew there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The huge problem with that comparison is not only what was recorded at the time (unreliable source) - but that genetic analysis of the virus showed it was not produced in a lab. The real comparison here is from law enforcement and that is: 1: eyewitnesses are unreliable and this informant would not even qualify as an eyewitness. According to rules of evidence this is hearsay. 2: In court - hearsay is not evidence, but genetic analysis is.
And then there was this interview of RFK, Jr by CCN's Dana Bash. It was full of misinformation including some of the misrepresentations in the table above. Ashish Jha, MD provides a bit of commentary at the end and has the stunning disclosure that he now believes the pandemic virus was a lab leak. I have searched everywhere for what he is basing that opinion on and so far have found nothing. No matter what side of the issue you are on - all of this agitation does absolutely nothing to address either future outbreaks or the outbreaks that are occurring right now.
References:
1: Robertson L. The Wuhan Lab and the Gain-of-Function
Disagreement. FactCheck.org. Posted on May 21, 2021 | Updated on July 1,
2021 https://www.factcheck.org/2021/05/the-wuhan-lab-and-the-gain-of-function-disagreement/
2: Robertson J,
MacDonlad J. Fauci and Paul, Round 2. FactCheck.org
Posted on August 11, 2023 | Updated on August 23, 2024 Posted on July 22, 2021 | Updated on August
19, 2021 https://www.factcheck.org/2021/07/scicheck-fauci-and-paul-round-2/
“There’s no evidence that Fauci lied to Congress, as Paul
asserted in the July 20 hearing, given that the NIH unequivocally backs up
Fauci’s statement that the grant-backed research “was judged by qualified staff
up and down the chain as not being gain-of-function.”
In a May 19 statement, NIH Director Dr. Francis S.
Collins said that “neither NIH nor NIAID have ever approved any grant that
would have supported ‘gain-of-function’ research on coronaviruses that would
have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans.” “
3: Jaramillio C, and
Yandell K. RFK Jr.’s COVID-19
Deceptions. FactCheck.org Posted on
August 11, 2023 | Updated on August 23, 2024
https://www.factcheck.org/2023/08/scicheck-rfk-jr-s-covid-19-deceptions/
4: Kaiser J. Under fire from Republican senators, Fauci
takes the Fifth at COVID-19 hearing.
Science July 29, 2026: https://www.science.org/content/article/under-fire-republican-senators-fauci-takes-fifth-covid-19-hearing
5: American Society of Microbiology Letter in Support of Dr. Fauci. July 28, 2026: https://asm.org/articles/policy/2026/july/asm-letter-to-senate-committee-in-support-of-fauci
