On Monday, The Washington Post obtained hundreds of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Dr. Anthony Fauci emails from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic through a Freedom of Information request, and published a story that showcases some of the contents. On Tuesday, Buzzfeed News received an even larger packet. The emails were not leaks or the result of hacks. They don’t show Fauci as some rogue element within the White House. And, despite the oblique threats of Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, they don’t show Fauci in any sort of conspiracy with China.
What they do show is very much what most people might expect having watched Fauci’s appearances over the last 18 months: a dedicated public servant who is very concerned about providing the right advice, frightened by what is clearly the most serious public health matter in a generation, confused by an administration that doesn’t seem to take that threat seriously, and very uncomfortable finding himself a controversial figure in the center of the national conversation. The hundreds of emails show Fauci very much wanting to do his job. They show the difficulty he had in trying to impress upon everyone how critical it was to mount a vigorous response to the pandemic in the face of a White House ready to take advice from everyone but experts.
And, despite it all, they show that even in private, Fauci was going out of his way to not complain about Donald Trump, even as Trump was taking actions that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
A large number of the published letters involve Fauci’s correspondence with other health officials and with those in charge of health matters at organizations ranging from the Chinese government to the National Football League Players Association. What’s immediately obvious is that many of these men and women had been working with Fauci for years or decades, and held him in great respect. The letters often express concerns for his health, especially in light of the long hours he’s clearly pulling and how often he’s appearing on television. Fauci expresses bafflement with the way he has become the center of many stories and explains that he has to clean up after “mixed messages” coming from the White House, but he studiously avoids making explicit complaints about Trump, Jared Kushner, and others who inserted themselves into the early pandemic and set the United States on a path to disaster.
Those friends of Fauci had reason to be concerned. The time stamps on the emails show that the 80-year-old scientist was often up well past midnight answering his correspondence, then back on the system extremely early in the morning in advance of a long day of meetings and media.
Republicans—including Cotton—appear to be trying to make a conspiracy out of an exchange that Fauci had with the director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, George Gao. In those exchanges, Gao apologizes to Fauci for an article in which he is quoted as saying it was a “big mistake” not to tell people to wear masks from the beginning. Gao says these were the words of the journalist, not an accurate quote. In his conclusion to Fauci, Gao writes, “Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth.”
In response, Fauci writes, “I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together.” And, of course, that last sentence is undoubtedly running on heavy repeat at this very moment as proof that Fauci somehow conspired with China to something, something, something.
Mainly what the messages show was that Fauci was under even more pressure than was already visible from his television appearances. He was dealing with a flood of incoming messages that often exceeded 1,000 emails a day, with scientific papers and updates being mixed with interview requests, questions, and statements from the White House. What the messages show is a guy who was standing in a gale force wind of public scrutiny every day, and still doing his job. What the messages show is in itself a kind of miracle.
Not all the emails are just concerned friends, interview-hungry media outlets, or raging members of the White House staff. For example, one email comes from a military chaplain who writes “to express my profound appreciation to you for your work during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The chaplain thanks Fauci for “how you have spent considerable time and capital reaching out to the Black and brown communities,” commends him for keeping minority communities “in the loop,” and tells him to “Take care and ‘Cover your six’.”
On April 8, Gao wrote to Fauci again. “I saw some news (hope it is fake) that [you] are being attacked by some people. Hope you are well under such a irrational situation.”
“All is well despite some crazy people in this world,” Fauci replied.
Let’s just hope that, among all the truthful advice that Fauci has provided the nation and the world, that statement remains accurate.
What they do show is very much what most people might expect having watched Fauci’s appearances over the last 18 months: a dedicated public servant who is very concerned about providing the right advice, frightened by what is clearly the most serious public health matter in a generation, confused by an administration that doesn’t seem to take that threat seriously, and very uncomfortable finding himself a controversial figure in the center of the national conversation. The hundreds of emails show Fauci very much wanting to do his job. They show the difficulty he had in trying to impress upon everyone how critical it was to mount a vigorous response to the pandemic in the face of a White House ready to take advice from everyone but experts.
And, despite it all, they show that even in private, Fauci was going out of his way to not complain about Donald Trump, even as Trump was taking actions that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
A large number of the published letters involve Fauci’s correspondence with other health officials and with those in charge of health matters at organizations ranging from the Chinese government to the National Football League Players Association. What’s immediately obvious is that many of these men and women had been working with Fauci for years or decades, and held him in great respect. The letters often express concerns for his health, especially in light of the long hours he’s clearly pulling and how often he’s appearing on television. Fauci expresses bafflement with the way he has become the center of many stories and explains that he has to clean up after “mixed messages” coming from the White House, but he studiously avoids making explicit complaints about Trump, Jared Kushner, and others who inserted themselves into the early pandemic and set the United States on a path to disaster.
Those friends of Fauci had reason to be concerned. The time stamps on the emails show that the 80-year-old scientist was often up well past midnight answering his correspondence, then back on the system extremely early in the morning in advance of a long day of meetings and media.
Republicans—including Cotton—appear to be trying to make a conspiracy out of an exchange that Fauci had with the director of China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention, George Gao. In those exchanges, Gao apologizes to Fauci for an article in which he is quoted as saying it was a “big mistake” not to tell people to wear masks from the beginning. Gao says these were the words of the journalist, not an accurate quote. In his conclusion to Fauci, Gao writes, “Lets work together to get the virus out of the earth.”
In response, Fauci writes, “I understand completely. No problem. We will get through this together.” And, of course, that last sentence is undoubtedly running on heavy repeat at this very moment as proof that Fauci somehow conspired with China to something, something, something.
Mainly what the messages show was that Fauci was under even more pressure than was already visible from his television appearances. He was dealing with a flood of incoming messages that often exceeded 1,000 emails a day, with scientific papers and updates being mixed with interview requests, questions, and statements from the White House. What the messages show is a guy who was standing in a gale force wind of public scrutiny every day, and still doing his job. What the messages show is in itself a kind of miracle.
Not all the emails are just concerned friends, interview-hungry media outlets, or raging members of the White House staff. For example, one email comes from a military chaplain who writes “to express my profound appreciation to you for your work during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The chaplain thanks Fauci for “how you have spent considerable time and capital reaching out to the Black and brown communities,” commends him for keeping minority communities “in the loop,” and tells him to “Take care and ‘Cover your six’.”
On April 8, Gao wrote to Fauci again. “I saw some news (hope it is fake) that [you] are being attacked by some people. Hope you are well under such a irrational situation.”
“All is well despite some crazy people in this world,” Fauci replied.
Let’s just hope that, among all the truthful advice that Fauci has provided the nation and the world, that statement remains accurate.