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Journalist Mark Halperin, host of “2Way,” compared the mainstream media’s coverage of Anthony Fauci’s diary to the media’s coverage of former President Joe Biden’s mental breakdown on Wednesday, saying they were there to create the issue.
“I could spend an hour talking to you about the media coverage of this,” Halperin said during an interview with Larry O’Connor and Kevin Walling during “The Morning Meeting” podcast. If you read the stories in the so-called mainstream media about the Fauci Diaries, you will see an exact parallel to the Biden acuity situation. They were present at the creation of hiding. They were there, participating in the non-stop election, pro-Fauci, anti-Trump, and there they are – they support it. “
“There is no awakening of the mind,” he continued. “There seems to be a lack of awareness. And this goes through a lot of things. It goes beyond the question of whether Dr. Fauci lied, whether Dr. Fauci helped fund the research that was done, and it goes to whether Dr. Fauci is obsessed with fame and celebrity. There’s no other way to explain it.”
Fauci faced questions from Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul on Wednesday about his diary entries, which Paul released earlier this week. Fauci repeatedly refused to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 3, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
“There’s a lot of richness here as well — and Fauci’s obsession with celebrity,” Halperin said, echoing Fauci’s apparent obsession with celebrity. “He’s worried. He talks about Julia Roberts. He talks about Cher. He talks about covers. He talks freely in his diaries about how people blocked him from TV. And he acts like a ban on TV viewing is like someone trying to drown him under water. Okay, this guy has a problem. And, by the way, if you covered him 50 years ago when he came to Washington, ‘unexpected.”
Halperin specifically called CNN’s Brian Stelter and his book about the news in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter.
“While the MAGA media mocked Fauci’s ‘obsession’ with fame, the diary entries read more like someone chronicling the unintended speed at which the government’s immunologist became world-famous,” Stelter wrote.
“Brian Stelter, this must be Christmas for him,” Halperin continued. “This should be the biggest day of his life to write about all the communication between Fauci and the media here and the ethics involved in having people secretly be his friends and help him and praise him on TV. Brian Stelter in his career has written many sentences of corruption to protect the liberal side of the house, many.”
When reached for comment, CNN referred Fox News Digital to what Stelter wrote in the newspaper on Monday.
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Brian Stelter attends the CNN Breaking Bread with Tony Shalhoub premiere after party at Sadelle’s on September 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 aspect of these diary days?”
O’Connor agreed and added, “The narcissism that he exhibits in his constant focus on which celebrity or which news source says good things about him is very important in communicating and accepting what is really happening with this disease that he has withheld from the American people.”
Fauci opened up about his relationship with various media outlets in the diary series, including CNN’s Jake Tapper, who was mentioned 41 times.
According to the diary, Tapper sent Fauci a message to mock the cable news hosts and other doctors. At one point, Tapper called to check on Fauci after an appearance on his show angered Trump supporters.
“Jake wanted to make sure the interview didn’t cause me any problems,” Fauci wrote on April 13, 2020.
In July 2020, Fauci revealed that he had developed a friendship with Tapper.
“We had dinner at Jake Tapper and Jen Tapper’s home in DC. Very nice couple. Friendly 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 later Tapper would express frustration, rousing Fauci in the process.
“Tapper woke me up at 11:23 AM (I went to bed early) furious [sic] to POTUS for tweeting about the fact that Jake is tough [sic] asked Brett Giroir on the SOTU CNN show today. Jake was really offended by the craziness of it all,” Fauci wrote.
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Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and medical adviser to several American presidents, testifies about his role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at a hearing of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 29, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)
Other CNN personalities were also mentioned, including Dana Bash and Andrea Mitchell.
Former NBC anchor Chuck Todd and ABC’s George Stephanopoulos were also mentioned.
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Fox News’ Brian Flood and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
