Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) released more than 1,100 pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci's personal diary notes from the pandemic on July 24, 2026. The release came three days before Fauci is required to testify before a Senate committee that Paul leads on July 29. NPR

The document, labeled "Tony's Diary Package," was posted on Paul's Senate website. It covers December 2019 through December 2022, the time Fauci served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Paul announced the release on X on Saturday, July 25, saying that what Fauci "wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories." NPR

Paul used a subpoena to require Fauci to appear. A subpoena is a legal order that forces someone to show up and answer questions. Paul issued it after Fauci said he would not come on his own. The two have argued for years about how COVID-19 started. Fauci has said the science points to a natural origin, meaning the virus jumped from animals to people. Paul has argued the virus may have leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, and has looked into U.S. money sent to that lab. NPR

The diary is part of a larger document release. On July 27, Paul posted a second file called "Diary Prequel" with records going back to April 2001. His Senate website also hosts a 465-page collection of Fauci's records and emails from 2001 through July 2015. paul.senate.gov

The original 1,141-page diary file was no longer on the website as of Monday, July 27, according to NPR. The outlet did not say when or why it was taken down. NPR

Neither Fauci nor Paul answered NPR's request for comment before the story was published on July 27. NPR

Fauci left his job as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the end of 2022. Paul has kept investigating how COVID-19 began and what he calls risky research paid for with taxpayer money, even after Fauci left government. The investigation has reached beyond Fauci. In April 2026, the medical journal the Lancet turned down a request from the U.S. Senate connected to the COVID-19 origins investigation. Reuters

The timing matters here. Releasing the diary days before the hearing means the July 29 testimony will have a large set of documents behind it. As chairman, Paul runs the committee and picks the witnesses. The published records give him material straight from Fauci's own writing during the time period in question. Whether the diary actually shows the contradictions Paul says it does will be tested when Fauci answers questions under oath on Wednesday.