Anthony Fauci’s diary details a June 2020 phone call in which President Donald Trump berated the infectious disease expert over comments he made about COVID-19 vaccine immunity before White House officials later sought to smooth things over.
The account is included in a more than 1,000-page collection of Fauci’s writings released Saturday by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, ahead of Fauci’s testimony before the panel on Wednesday.
In a June 4, 2020, entry, Fauci wrote that Trump called his personal cellphone and “screamed” at him after news reports highlighted remarks he made suggesting immunity from a future COVID-19 vaccine might not be permanent and could require booster shots.
“Had a very difficult experience today,” Fauci wrote. “The POTUS called my cell and screamed at me because I had mentioned to the Press … that although we do not know the duration of vaccine immunity, it is possible that we may have to use additional boosts.”
According to Fauci, Trump believed the comments had been distorted by the media into claims that any vaccine would provide only short-lived protection.
“The POTUS was very angry,” Fauci wrote. “He said I cannot keep doing this to him. He said he loved me but the country is in trouble and I am making it worse. He said the stock market only went up 600 points and it should have gone up 1000 points and so I cost the country $1 trillion. Quite a phone call.”
Later that evening, Fauci recounted that Katie Miller, who was then serving as press secretary to then-Vice President Mike Pence, called him to apologize on behalf of both Trump and Pence.
“Katie Miller called me up and said she had a message from the POTUS and the VP. Both of them … asked Katie to tell me that they both loved me and are sorry about what happened,” the former director of the National Institutes of Health wrote in his diary. “They understand and feel that the press will continue to pit me against the POTUS and so please be careful.”
The diary entry offers a snapshot of the strained relationship between Trump and Fauci during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, Trump publicly threw his weight behind Fauci, despite reports of a growing divide between the two over COVID policies.
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Trump has since drastically shifted his position. In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, the president said he had warned former President Joe Biden about Fauci before Biden took office.
“I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either didn’t have a clue, or was dishonest,” Trump wrote. “The call was well received, but sadly, not acted on. Biden went on to give Fauci vast destructive power.”
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