President Donald Trump fired off a Truth Social post Wednesday morning saying former President Joe Biden gave Dr. Anthony Fauci “vast destructive power” during the pandemic — despite Trump repeatedly warning Biden that Fauci “was no good.”
The public rebuke marks the latest chapter in the ongoing scrutiny of the federal government’s pandemic response and the role played by Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for nearly four decades before stepping down. The controversy surrounding Fauci’s tenure has become a focal point for Republicans who have long questioned his guidance on lockdowns, masks, and the origins of the virus itself.
Trump’s statement came hours before Fauci’s explosive testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During the hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, refusing to answer questions on both COVID-19-related and unrelated topics after being subpoenaed by committee Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
The Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination are typically invoked when witnesses believe their answers could expose them to criminal prosecution. Fauci’s repeated use of this constitutional right during congressional testimony represents an extraordinary turn for a figure who once commanded daily press briefings and shaped pandemic policy that affected millions of Americans.
“I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either didn’t have a clue, or was dishonest. The call was well received, but sadly, not acted on. Biden went on to give Fauci vast destructive power. The rest is history!”
The revelation that Trump personally contacted Biden to warn him about Fauci sheds new light on the transition period between the two administrations and suggests Trump’s concerns about the infectious disease expert extended beyond his own term in office.
Trump reaffirmed his long-held belief that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China — a position Fauci “strongly disagreed” with, according to the president.
“I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China,” Trump wrote.
The lab leak theory, once dismissed by many in the mainstream media and scientific establishment, has gained credibility in recent years as new evidence has emerged. Intelligence agencies have since acknowledged the possibility, though consensus remains elusive. The debate over COVID-19’s origins has significant implications for international relations, scientific research protocols, and accountability for the pandemic’s devastating global impact.
The president defended Operation Warp Speed as “a SPECTACULAR SUCCESS” and said he overrode Fauci’s “CRAZY” ideas on vaccine development. Trump also criticized Fauci’s flip-flopping on masks — calling him “an anti-masker” at the beginning of the pandemic who then “switched to a super-masker.”
Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s initiative to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development, delivered multiple vaccines in less than a year — a timeline that shattered previous records for vaccine development. The program represented one of the most significant public-private partnerships in pharmaceutical history.
Trump said he inherited Fauci, who had been in government since the 1980s, but “with each passing day, relied less and less on him.”
“I didn’t let him shut the Country down, although he wanted to. I went the Federalist way, and let the governors decide. The Republican governors did a much better job than the Dumocrats,” Trump said.
The president said Fauci was “largely taken out of play” during his administration — but Biden reversed course and made Fauci “a ‘King!'”
The contrast in how the two administrations utilized Fauci highlights fundamentally different approaches to pandemic management and the role of public health officials in shaping policy. While Trump increasingly sidelined Fauci in favor of governors making state-level decisions, Biden elevated him to chief medical advisor and featured him prominently in federal COVID-19 messaging.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Sen. Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s diary, highlighting conflicting statements the doctor made regarding the nature and origin of COVID-19 in both public and congressional statements during the pandemic.
The extensive diary records could provide crucial insight into what Fauci knew privately versus what he stated publicly during critical moments of the pandemic response. Such discrepancies form the basis of congressional investigators’ concerns about transparency and potential misconduct.
Paul has called for the former chief medical advisor to be criminally investigated, saying Fauci was dishonest in previous testimony to Congress.
Trump noted that “many more people died of Covid under the Biden Administration than under the Trump Administration” — a fact Democrats rarely acknowledge when attacking Trump’s pandemic response.
According to publicly available data, the majority of COVID-19 deaths in the United States occurred after Biden took office, despite the availability of vaccines and treatments that were not available during much of Trump’s tenure. This statistical reality complicates the political narrative that has often blamed Trump exclusively for pandemic-related deaths while largely exempting the Biden administration from similar criticism.
