MS NOW/SnapStream Before Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment at a Senate hearing after the release of his diaries from the pandemic, Wednesday’s Morning Joe gave a preview of the hearing where 8 AM host Jonathan Lemire defended Fauci and called much of it “taken out of context.” Lemire also minimized the possible Chinese lab origins of COVID-19 and possible U.S. funding of gain-of-function labs, which he called “unproven.”Just as the Senate hearing was set to begin, Lemire introduced the hearing as “Fauci is expected to face some tough questions about the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government's response to the virus.” On Wednesday, Morning Joe finally reported on the Fauci diary release before he appeared at a Senate hearing and pleaded the Fifth.Unsurprisingly, Jonathan Lemire defended Fauci and his diaries, as he said: "Some of this is being taken out of context." pic.twitter.com/rAwytdRe1x— Nick (@nspin310) July 29, 2026 The MS NOW host then detailed released pages of Fauci’s diary and focused on his talk of a “newfound celebrity status”:This comes just days after Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)released more than 1000 pages of Fauci's diary entries from the early months of the pandemic. In some of the entries, Fauci does reveal how much he enjoyed his newfound celebrity status, calling it “flattering.” (...)After he omitted Fauci’s conversations with media personalities, like CNN’s Jake Tapper and others, Lemire gave a quick defense of Fauci and stated, “But he also called some of the attention very unnerving.”In a continued cherry-picked defense of the diaries, Lemire continued and talked about Fauci’s pandemic worries and conversations with President Trump. Lemire turned to talk about the Wuhan lab leak theory and possible US funding of the lab, which he was quick to label as “unproven" despite multiple U.S. agencies disclosing otherwise:Senator Paul has fought with Fauci for years over unproven claims that the United States government funded research at the Chinese lab that may have developed coronavirus there in Wuhan, which sparked that global pandemic back in 2020.Before he introduced MS NOW congressional reporter Kevin Frey, Lemire gave a more full-throated defense of Fauci and claimed the diary was “taken out of context”:The diary suggests he wasn't quite sure what to make of that. And I think some of this is being taken out of context. We know the Republicans have made Fauci a boogeyman for quite some time.Frey, in a moment of foreshadowing, started his report, “I mean, one of the outstanding questions is what exactly he will say. If anything, there is speculation he could try to plead the Fifth.”Fauci eventually did invoke the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions at the hearing.A larger focus on Frey’s report seemed to go after Sen. Paul, as he said, “Democrats that I've talked to, including one of the members of this committee, have essentially said that Paul has a vendetta against Fauci.”He continued with more Fauci defense, “and one could argue, and I imagine there will be some argument, particularly from Democrats, that this is part of his public awareness campaign that he was essentially documenting (...)”After Morning Joe waited to mention the Fauci diaries until the moment of the hearing, they and others in the media seem poised to be forced to discuss the topic after he pleaded the Fifth.The transcript is below. Click "expand":MS NOW’s Morning JoeJuly 29, 202608:31:12 AM Eastern(...)JONATHAN LEMIRE: So, in a Senate hearing that's scheduled to begin in just a few minutes, former White House Chief Medical Advisor Anthony Fauci is expected to face some tough questions about the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government's response to the virus. This comes just days after Republican Senator Rand Paul released more than 1000 pages of Fauci's diary entries from the early months of the pandemic. In some of the entries, Fauci does reveal how much he enjoyed his newfound celebrity status, calling it “flattering,” and that the high people he was meeting, such as Julia Roberts, Joan Baez. But he also called some of the attention very unnerving. Fauci's journal also documents his concern about the rising case counts, deaths, and questions about the spread of the virus. Other entries detail his conversations with President Trump, in which Fauci writes that the president pushed him to be more positive when he made his TV appearances.Senator Paul has fought with Fauci for years over unproven claims that the United States government funded research at the Chinese lab that may have developed coronavirus there in Wuhan, which sparked that global pandemic back in 2020. Paul, who arranged this morning's hearing, argues that the writings prove Fauci discussed the origins of the virus differently in public than he did in private, and he has accused the scientist of destroying government records related to pandemic response efforts. Fauci, who retired in 2022, has strongly denied the allegations during previous congressional testimony. Let's bring in MS NOW congressional reporter Kevin Frey, who joins us live from Capitol Hill. Kevin, I mean, Doctor Fauci, let's first of all, let's be clear. Has served the American people long before the COVID pandemic, already heralded as one of the nation's top scientists and public servants. Unexpectedly put in the spotlight here in 2020,. The diary suggests he wasn't quite sure what to make of that. And I think some of this is being taken out of context. We know the Republicans have made Fauci a boogeyman for quite some time. So, with that as the backdrop, Fauci will appear, you know, there in front of the cameras in the hearing hall today. What should we expect?KEVIN FREY: Yeah. I mean, one of the outstanding questions is what exactly he will say. If anything, there is speculation he could try to plead the Fifth. We know that Paul has referred him to the DOJ under the Biden years previously. So, this threat is outstanding. And certainly Paul has made no - he's not been exactly coy about his desire to potentially try to catch Fauci in what he describes as a lie. If you look at his Twitter account from the last few days, that is basically every other installment on his Twitter feed, which is essentially his don't lie we're going to hold him accountable. They are also expected to, as you mentioned, as they're coming with this new diary of documents, go after him on this question of what Fauci knew and when he knew it. There is an entry from a few months into the pandemic. We are talking early February of 2020, so, before we even really saw massive shutdowns here in the United States, where Fauci is part of a call with several other scientists from around the globe, discussing where this could have originated. And there was disagreement on that call. Nonetheless, this is something that we have seen Paul highlight online. We expect him to try to corner him on exactly the origins of this. This has been one of Paul's personal focuses for quite some time now, to the point where Democrats that I've talked to, including one of the members of this committee, have essentially said that Paul has a vendetta against Fauci. One other thing is you highlighted here that we expect him to at least be pressed on is this celebrity question. Throughout the diary entries, yes, he is documenting which interviews he's doing and when he is doing them. And one could argue, and I imagine there will be some argument, particularly from Democrats, that this is part of his public awareness campaign that he was essentially documenting: “Okay, how am I getting out the word about the seriousness of COVID-19?But at the same time, he is touting his interactions with Barbra Streisand over the phone and playing music for her on his Amazon Alexa. That is likely to be something - just talking with Senator Ron Johnson, another Republican on this panel, he's likely going to bring up. That he wants to highlight, yes, he was famous, but he needs to be, in Ron Johnson's words, infamous. So, this is going to probably get very personal very quickly. But again, the question is precisely what Fauci decides to do. We've been given no clear indication. His team has been mum in the lead-up to this. One other thing, as you highlighted at the top there, Jonathan, this is quite the trajectory for Fauci, who for 40 years was a leading health expert within the United States. He is credited in a bipartisan fashion for his work on AIDS and HIV, both domestically and internationally, including under the Bush administration.And now he's coming under scrutiny six years later, we should say, after COVID outbreak broke out across the globe. He's coming under renewed scrutiny here on Capitol Hill.(...)