Fact check: Barack Obama called Donald Trump a "hopeless idiot" and a "pathologic liar" during a private phone call with Dr. Anthon…

Verdict: mostly true — Trust Score 79/100

The post accurately reports on the contents of Dr. Anthony Fauci's recently released diary entries, which detail a private phone call between Barack Obama and Fauci on November 4, 2021. During this call, Obama reportedly called Donald Trump Jr. "a f**king moron" and Donald Trump "a hopeless idiot who was a pathologic liar." The diary entries, made public by Senator Rand Paul, also confirm that Donald Trump Jr. was selling "Fauci kills puppies" merchandise, a claim that originated from a study in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases concerning puppies exposed to sand flies. This information is confirmed by 5 sources.

Platform
instagram
Source author
balleralert — see all fact-checks of this account
Original post
https://www.instagram.com/p/DbecuytzGUb/?igsh=MXF2M2Jwa2M2b2Z3
Verified on
August 13, 2026
Verification ID
65scZLdcebiR9XMu-I3kSQ

Original content reviewed

Platform: INSTAGRAM Author: @balleralert --- Caption/Description --- Obama Called Don Jr A F**king Moron And Trump A Hopeless Idiot In A Private Call Blogged by: PolyGirlSaysWhat Barack Obama called Trump a hopeless idiot and a pathologic liar during a private phone call with Dr. Anthony Fauci, and Fauci wrote all of it down. The entry surfaced this week in more than a thousand pages of Fauci’s personal COVID era diary, which was made public by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. The call happened on November 4, 2021. Obama reached Fauci on his cellphone, and the two spoke for about 25 minutes in a conversation Fauci described in his notes as incredibly memorable. Obama had called to offer support and, in Fauci’s words, to help in any way that he could while Fauci was taking what Fauci described as an onslaught of slanderous lies from the political right. Somewhere in that call, Fauci told Obama what Donald Trump Jr. had been doing. Trump Jr. was selling sweatshirts and T shirts on his website, with proceeds going toward his fundraising, printed with the words “Fauci kills puppies.” According to the diary, Obama’s response was immediate. He said Donald Trump Jr. is “a f*cking moron.” He then apologized for using crude language. Then, per Fauci’s account, Obama called Trump a hopeless idiot who was a pathologic liar. Fauci added that Obama was very upset that none of the moderate Republicans were speaking out on his behalf, and that they were instead distancing themselves from what Fauci called terrible, slanderous behavior against him. The puppy line that set the whole thing off deserves a minute, because it was built on a real study twisted into something it was not. In October 2021, a paper published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases described research funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the agency Fauci ran, in which puppies were exposed to sand flies while their heads were held in mesh cages. Sand flies transmit a

Claims analyzed (7)

  1. verified: Barack Obama called Donald Trump a "hopeless idiot" and a "pathologic liar" during a private phone call with Dr. Anthony Fauci.
    Multiple news outlets reported in late July and early August 2026 that Dr. Anthony Fauci's recently released diary entries contain an account of a November 4, 2021, phone call with Barack Obama where Obama made these statements about Donald Trump.
  2. verified: Barack Obama called Donald Trump Jr. "a f**king moron" during a private phone call with Dr. Anthony Fauci.
    News reports from late July and early August 2026 confirm that Dr. Anthony Fauci's recently released diary entries document a private phone call on November 4, 2021, where Obama used this phrase to describe Donald Trump Jr.
  3. verified: The private phone call between Obama and Fauci occurred on November 4, 2021, and lasted about 25 minutes.
    Multiple news sources, citing Fauci's diary entries, confirm the date and duration of the phone call.
  4. verified: Dr. Anthony Fauci documented the conversation in his personal COVID era diary.
    News articles consistently report that the details of the conversation between Obama and Fauci are from Fauci's personal diary entries.
  5. verified: Fauci's diary entries, including the details of the call, were made public by Senator Rand Paul.
    Multiple news outlets confirm that Senator Rand Paul released over a thousand pages of Dr. Anthony Fauci's diary entries, which included the details of the call with Obama.
  6. mostly true: Donald Trump Jr. was selling merchandise with the words "Fauci kills puppies" to raise funds.
    News articles from October and November 2021 confirm that Donald Trump Jr. was selling merchandise, including sweatshirts and T-shirts, with slogans like "Fauci kills puppies" and "Fauci lied, puppies died." These items were sold on his website, with proceeds going towards his fundraising.
  7. mostly true: The "Fauci kills puppies" claim originated from a study published in October 2021 in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where puppies were exposed to sand flies in mesh cages.
    The claim about puppies and sand flies originated from a study published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases in July 2021, not October 2021. While the study involved puppies exposed to sand flies in mesh cages, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) clarified that it did not fund the specific research shown in the images of beagles being circulated, and the journal issued a correction. NIAID did fund a different beagle study for vaccine evaluation.

Sources consulted (12)

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