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Journalist Mark Halperin, host of “2Way,” likened the mainstream media coverage of Anthony Fauci’s diaries to the press’ coverage of former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity on Wednesday, and said they were present at the creation of the cover-up.
“I could spend this entire hour talking to you about the media coverage of this thing,” Halperin said during a conversation with Larry O’Connor and Kevin Walling during “The Morning Meeting” podcast. If you read the stories in the so-called mainstream press about the Fauci Diaries, you will see an exact parallel to the Biden acuity situation. They were present at the creation of the cover-up. They were present, engaged in non-stop bias, pro-Fauci, anti-Trump, and they’re — they’re just sustaining it.”
“There’s no consciousness raising,” he continued. “There seems to be no awareness. And this goes across a range of things. It goes across the question of whether Dr. Fauci lied, whether Dr. Fauci helped fund the gain-of-function research, and it also goes to Dr. Fauci’s insane obsession with fame and celebrity. There’s no other way to describe it.”
Fauci faced questions from Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul on Wednesday over his diary entries, which Paul released earlier this week. Fauci repeatedly refused to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
FAUCI’S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTED
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 3, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The subcommittee is holding a hearing on findings from a 15-month Republican-led probe of Fauci and the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins. (Getty Images)
“There’s so much rich stuff here and — and Fauci’s obsession with celebrity,” Halperin said, again calling out Fauci’s seeming obsession with celebrities. “He’s obsessed. He talks about Julia Roberts. He talks about Cher. He talks about covers. He talks openly in his diaries about how people blocked him from TV. And he acts like being blocked from a TV appearance is like someone trying to strangle him underwater. OK, this guy has a problem. And, by the way, if you’ve covered him in the last 50 years when he’s been in Washington, this comes as no surprise.”
Halperin specifically called out CNN’s Brian Stelter and his note about the news in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter.
“While MAGA media ridicules Fauci’s ‘obsession’ with fame, the diary entries read more like someone documenting the objectively wild speed at which a government immunologist became internationally famous,” Stelter wrote.
“Brian Stelter, this should be Christmas for him,” Halperin continued. “This should be the greatest day of his life to get to write about all the connections between Fauci and the media here and the ethics involved in people secretly being friends with him and helping him and then praising him on TV. Brian Stelter in his career has written many corrupt sentences to protect the liberal side of the house, many.”
When reached for comment, CNN referred Digital to what Stelter wrote in the newsletter on Monday.
LEGACY MEDIA COVERS ANTHONY FAUCI DIARY BY CRITICIZING DONALD TRUMP INSTEAD OF FAUCI’S DISHONESTY
Brian Stelter attends the CNN Breaking Bread with Tony Shalhoub premiere after-party at Sadelle’s on Sept. 30, 2025, in New York City. (Getty Images for CNN/WBD)
Halperin asked co-host Larry O’Conner, “Can you think of a more extreme example than that characterization of these diaries?”
O’Connor agreed and added, “The narcissism he displays in his constant focus on what celebrity or what media outlet is saying wonderful things about him is really only valuable in juxtaposition with his admissions to what was really going on with this pandemic that he withheld from the American people.”
Fauci opened up about his relationships with various media personalities in a series of diary entries, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, who was mentioned 41 times.
According to the diary, Tapper texted Fauci to mock rival cable news hosts and other doctors. On one occasion, Tapper called to check on Fauci after an appearance on his show irked Trump supporters.
“Jake wanted to make sure the interview did not cause me any problems,” Fauci wrote on April 13, 2020.
In July 2020, Fauci gushed that he was forming a friendship with Tapper.
“Had dinner over Jake Tapper and Jen Tapper’s home in DC. Terrific couple. Friendship building,” Fauci wrote, according to the diary.
Later that month, Fauci wrote that he “gave Jake some questions to ask” pediatrician Brett Giroir during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” But Tapper would later express frustration, waking Fauci up in the process.
“Tapper woke me up at 11:23 AM (I went to bed early) furius [sic] at POTUS for tweeting about the fact that Jake severly [sic] questioned Brett Giroir on SOTU CNN show today. Jake was really pissed at the craziness of it all,” Fauci wrote.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Anthony Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and medical advisor to several U.S. presidents, testifies under subpoena about his role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at a U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 29, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Other CNN personalities were also mentioned, including Dana Bash and Andrea Mitchell.
Former NBC host Chuck Todd and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos were mentioned as well.
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‘ Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
