Fauci Diary Not Proof of Lab Leak, Debate Over COVID Origin Remains Open

FactCheck.org says Rand Paul cherry-picked Fauci’s Jan. 2020 diary to claim a lab leak; the diary notes the wet market as an amplifier, not the source, and Fauci’s public statements at the time—and later—were consistent with a natural origin. While the origin of COVID-19 isn’t definitively proven and some intelligence assessments are split, there’s no evidence Fauci lied, and the article warns against treating private notes as immutable proof that overrides the broader natural-origin evidence.