• On July 25, Rand Paul published over 1,100 pages of COVID-19-era journal entries from former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci in an attempt to claim that he had covered up the origin of the virus. Paul also released records ranging from 2001 to 2015, which he dubbed the “prequel” to Fauci’s diary. These releases are Paul’s latest effort in his yearslong investigation into claims that COVID-19 leaked from a lab. Despite Paul's claims, the diary does not provide any “smoking gun”; rather, as New York Times notes, “It echoes past disclosures showing Dr. Fauci wrestling with a fast-moving crisis as scientists’ views evolved.” [NPR, 7/27/26, 7/29/26; New York Times, 7/27/26] 
• On July 29, Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and invoked the Fifth Amendment in response to the committee’s questions. With Fauci making it clear he was going to plead the Fifth, Paul used the hearing to repeatedly accuse him of lying, suggesting “that while Fauci said publicly that Covid originated naturally, he privately believed the virus originated in a medical lab.” [NPR, 7/29/26; AP, 7/29/26; BBC, 7/29/26] 
• Right-wing media have long used Fauci as a pandemic scapegoat. Conservative media personalities started attacking Fauci in 2020, with Fox News programs portraying him as power-mad and using his influence to “favor what the Democrats want.” In 2022, then-Fox host Tucker Carlson called Fauci a “dangerous fraud, a man who has done things that in most countries, at most times in history, would be understood perfectly clearly to be very serious crimes.” [Media Matters, 8/23/22, 3/24/20] 
   

Right-wing media went all-in on covering the Fauci story. From Monday through noon on Thursday, Fox News mentioned Fauci 687 times, while on Newsmax, Fauci was mentioned 740 times (this includes mentions when the networks aired live coverage or clips of the hearing). In the online media space, Megyn Kelly said Fauci at least 75 times on her podcast across 3 episodes; The Charlie Kirk Show mentioned Fauci at least 87 times across 3 episodes, and Steve Bannon devoted significant attention during the July 29 edition of War Room to airing live portions of the hearing, with Bannon himself saying Fauci at least 26 times.
 

• Podcaster Benny Johnson claimed Fauci's “body count” is higher than Adolf Hitler’s. He said Fauci is the “single greatest mass murderer in modern history, who has a body count much higher than Hitler.” [YouTube, The Benny Show, 7/30/26]
• Radio show host Megyn Kelly claimed “Fauci hurt a lot more people than Epstein did.” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 7/27/26]
• TPUSA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet claimed Fauci “deserves to be in prison.” [Rumble, The Charlie Kirk Show, 7/29/26]
• Podcaster Tim Pool suggested that the Trump administration should attempt to charge and jail Fauci in El Salvador. He said, “Go to El Salvador, calculate what was their — how many deaths. Criminally charge Fauci under Salvadoran law; El Salvador can then file for extradition and we can send him on his way.” [Youtube, Timcast, 7/29/26]
• Pool also claimed, “If Fauci doesn’t go to prison, you have no country.” He added, ”The American people come to realize you can murder millions of people. You can massacre en masse at the institutional international level and you will never face accountability. And then what happens? Confidence in the system breaks down and you get chaos." [YouTube, Timcast, 7/29/26]
• Fox News contributor Clay Travis claimed that “Fauci belongs in prison for the rest of his life.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 7/28/26]
• Newsmax host Carl Higbie argued that “Anthony Fauci should just be in jail, full stop.” He later added, ”I hope they find the deepest prison on earth to bury this guy in." [Newsmax, Carl Higbie: Frontline, 7/29/26]
• Article III Founder Mike Davis called Fauci “one of the worst criminals in our history.” Davis claimed Fauci “got this pardon from Biden because he's a monster and he needed a pardon because he's one of the worst criminals in our history, a mass murderer.” Host Megyn Kelly agreed with him, saying, “You state your opinion that he's a mass murderer. Maybe some who are thinking that's too harsh. I'm not one of them.” [SiriusXM, The Megyn Kelly Show, 7/29/26]
• Podcaster Steve Bannon claimed, “Fauci's a mass murderer. A mass murderer.” [Real America's Voice, War Room, 7/29/26]
• PBD Podcast panelist Vincent Oshana called Fauci “a freaking mass murderer.” He added, “If you think about it, Pat, he's been killing people for how long?” [PBD Podcast, 7/27/26]
• Fox News @ Night guest and Moms for Liberty chapter leader Becky Grosskreutz said she hoped Fauci would experience “consequences both here on Earth, and beyond.” Talking about Fauci's testimony, she said, “I saw his smug face today and all the times that he pleaded the Fifth, and I honestly just want, you know, something to happen, and I want to have him to have consequences both here on Earth, and beyond.” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 7/29/26]
• Newsmax host Rob Finnerty claimed Fauci is a “sociopath” who deserves to be alone. [Newsmax, Finnerty, 7/29/26]
   

Media Matters searched transcripts in the Kinetiq video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel and Newsmax TV for the term “Fauci” from July 27, 2026, through noon July 30, 2026. We considered each instance of the term “Fauci” as a single mention.

We also searched transcripts in the Fight.fudgie.org podcast database for all original episodes of The Megyn Kelly Show, The Charlie Kirk Show, and Steve Bannon’s War Room for the term “Fauci” from July 27, 2026, through July 29, 2026. We manually reviewed the hits for those shows and counted each instance of the term “Fauci” — that wasn't aired during clips or live coverage — as a single mention.