President Donald Trump tore into Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday, saying the former government scientist never commanded the same clout in his White House that he later enjoyed under President Joe Biden.
“When he was with Biden, he was like the God. When he was with me, he wasn’t even close,” Trump told Fox News host Steve Doocy.
Trump said he would have fired Fauci during the COVID-19 pandemic if he had known then what he knows now.
“I didn’t agree with what he was saying or what he was doing,” Trump said.
The president took particular aim at Fauci’s changing guidance on face coverings.
“He started off saying, ‘Don’t wear them.’ Then he said, ‘Wear them.’ Then he said, ‘Don’t wear them.’ And I lost a lot of respect for him during the period of time,” Trump said. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’”
Public health officials initially discouraged widespread mask use amid concerns about shortages for medical workers. Their recommendations changed as researchers learned more about how the virus spread.
Trump also blamed Fauci for pushing sweeping shutdowns, saying he chose to let governors make their own calls.
“He wanted everything closed,” Trump said. “It just turned out that closing wasn’t so good.”
“Some of the states that fared the worst in terms of the spread were actually closed. OK, explain that. Nobody can explain that.”
Trump’s broadside landed one day before Fauci is scheduled to testify under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The hearing is set for Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s pandemic-era diary entries before the hearing. Paul argues the records conflict with Fauci’s previous public statements and testimony about COVID’s origins, lethality and government-funded research.
One dispute centers on early fatality estimates. Fox News reported that Fauci privately recorded an estimate of 0.2% to 0.3% in February 2020, then gave lawmakers higher figures the next day. Early estimates were highly uncertain because infections were being missed and available data remained limited.
The diaries also reveal Fauci’s private frustration with Trump. In various entries, he described the president as “rambling,” “crazy” and “an idiot,” according to The Washington Post.
Trump also brought up Biden’s preemptive pardon of Fauci. The pardon covered possible federal offenses connected to Fauci’s government service from 2014 through January 2025. Fauci had not been charged with a crime.
Watch the clip below:
NEW: President Trump responds to Dr. Anthony Fauci's newly released diary entries from the pandemic, where Fauci took aim at the administration and fixated on his own rise to fame.
"He wanted to close everything down and I didn't… If I would have taken his advice, the whole… pic.twitter.com/YaE1J38Yg8
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 28, 2026
