Former FDA Commissioner and current Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb appeared visibly uncomfortable Monday as CNBC’s Joe Kernen repeatedly confronted him over Dr. Anthony Fauci’s conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The heated exchange unfolded on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” just two days before Fauci is scheduled to testify under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Fauci will appear on Wednesday, July 29, at 8:30 a.m. ET before the committee chaired by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), according to the official hearing notice.
Paul subpoenaed Fauci after the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director reportedly backed out of an earlier agreement to testify voluntarily.
Kernen wasted no time putting Gottlieb on the spot.
“How about your buddy Fauci?” Kernen asked. “I’ve asked you about him in the past. You’ve defended him quite a bit.”
Gottlieb immediately attempted to distance himself from the accusation.
“Look, I mean, I don’t know what you’re referring to in terms of defending him,” Gottlieb responded.
But Kernen refused to let him escape.
The CNBC host asked whether Fauci orchestrated a cover-up of COVID-19’s possible laboratory origin because of the scrutiny it could bring to U.S.-funded gain-of-function research in China.
“He knew that would come back to haunt him and then basically told his colleagues, ‘Go with the natural origin,’” Kernen said. “It was obvious three years ago, Scott, to me anyway and everybody else, that he orchestrated that!”
Gottlieb conceded that evidence supporting a potential laboratory origin has grown while evidence supporting natural spillover has not.
“I think the side of the ledger that speaks to this potentially coming out of a lab has grown over time,” Gottlieb said, “and we haven’t had any new evidence suggesting that this came out of a natural origin or spillover.”
Kernen then confronted Gottlieb over emails showing Fauci instructing colleagues to delete communications.
“I think it’s disappointing to see him trying to suppress alternative opinions,” Gottlieb admitted. “And that clearly was evident from the emails.”
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Senator Paul released emails in 2025 showing Fauci repeatedly telling colleagues to “delete this after you read it.”
One February 2020 exchange, sent one day after the infamous “Proximal Origins” conference call, showed Fauci, former NIH Director Francis Collins, and Jeremy Farrar discussing how to “get ahead of the science and narrative.”
Fauci ended the message with an extraordinary instruction:
“Please delete this e-mail after you read it.”
The committee says the emails conflict with Fauci’s previous congressional testimony that he had not deleted federal records or sought to obstruct their release. Fauci has denied allegations that he covered up COVID-19’s origins.
Kernen continued hammering Gottlieb, asking whether Fauci’s shattered reputation was the only accountability the 85-year-old former bureaucrat would ever face.
“Does having a reputation totally in the toilet at 85 years, does that hold him to account for what he was responsible for?” Kernen asked.
Gottlieb responded that the Fauci exposed in the emails was not the same man he claimed to have known over the years.
“The Tony Fauci I saw in those emails is not the Tony Fauci I knew,” Gottlieb said, describing the Fauci he knew as supposedly “sober,” “careful,” and “thoughtful.”
Kernen then raised Fauci’s apparent obsession with the corporate media and his cozy relationships with establishment journalists.
“Did you figure out the obsession with mainstream media in defending him?” Kernen asked, mentioning CNN’s Jake Tapper and the media figures who portrayed Fauci as a “hero.”
Gottlieb tried to explain that frightened Americans were looking for a trusted voice during the pandemic.
“Maybe they picked the wrong voice,” he finally admitted.
Kernen fired back by recalling Fauci’s infamous “I represent science” posture and accusing Gottlieb of remaining “very guarded and nice” toward the former government official.
“I was disappointed by the emails, I have to admit,” Gottlieb conceded.
WATCH:
🚨 AWKWARD: Joe Kernan Puts Dr. Scott Gottlieb on the Spot Over the Fauci Diaries
KERNAN: “How about your buddy Fauci that you’ve defended?”
GOTTLIEB: “To see those emails where he is evidencing some pleasure in the notoriety, that’s disappointing … The Tony Fauci I saw in… pic.twitter.com/plKk9gzKY4
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) July 27, 2026
The interview followed Senator Paul’s release of the massive “Tony’s Diary Package,” containing Fauci’s private pandemic-era journal entries and communications.
The documents reveal Fauci’s fascination with his sudden celebrity status, including his excitement over completing what he called the “Fauci 5,” appearances on all five major Sunday television programs.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Fauci’s diaries documented his “bizarre obsession with fame” while Americans were dying, businesses were being destroyed, children were locked out of classrooms, and churches were ordered closed.
Another Gateway Pundit report revealed that Fauci privately discussed a COVID fatality rate potentially far lower than the figure he presented to lawmakers.
Paul’s Senate “Reading Room” says Fauci’s private writings show that he was warned by top virologists on January 31, 2020, that the virus contained features raising serious questions about a natural origin. According to the committee, roughly half the scientists on the initial call believed the virus looked “constructed.”
Yet Fauci later publicly dismissed laboratory-origin suspicions while presenting natural spillover as the favored explanation. Fauci disputes accusations that he deliberately misled the public.
Independent journalist Julie Kelly blasted Gottlieb following the CNBC appearance.
“Aside from Fauci, Birx, Redfield, and Adams on the government side, no one was more complicit in stoking unnecessary panic and promoting untested and ineffective ‘mitigation’ measures than Scott Gottlieb. Then he massively profited off all of it.”
The origins of COVID-19 have still not been conclusively determined. The CIA, FBI, and Department of Energy have leaned toward a laboratory-related incident, with varying levels of confidence, while other agencies and many scientists have favored natural spillover. The intelligence community has acknowledged that both possibilities remain plausible.
Kernen concluded the explosive segment with a warning about Wednesday’s testimony.
“Well, we’ll see what happens on Wednesday,” he said. “Rand Paul’s been right all along!”
Gottlieb suggested Paul may have deliberately held the documents until shortly before the hearing.
“Tony’s going to have to speak to what’s in those private communications,” Gottlieb acknowledged.
For once, the American people may finally get to watch Anthony Fauci answer questions under oath from a senator who has pursued the COVID cover-up for years.
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