Former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Robert Redfield this week insisted that the recently publicized "Fauci diary" substantiated allegations that the federal government had misled the public on its response to COVID-19.

Redfield led the CDC from 2018 to early 2021. Speaking on the "John Solomon Reports" podcast, Redfield addressed recent revelations about Fauci's private thoughts on COVID-19, which Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., made public this month.

"It is interesting if you read Tony's [Fauci] diaries and his diaries. We didn't know it at the time, but he talks about how he got vaccinated, then later had a pulmonary embolism, which we now know microcoagulation and embolism is a significant injury that's associated with the mRNA vaccines," Redfield said. "So I think the American public was misled in that regard too."

He further excoriated narrative pushes around the purpose of the vaccine and the origins of the virus.

"This vaccine never prevented infection, so when people said 'vaccinate your children so they don't infect grandma,' that was just a false statement. So very unfortunate," he added. "The American public was definitely misled. [Fauci] definitely had an intentional role, unfortunately, in misleading the American public around the origin of the virus, for sure, around the efficacy of the vaccines, and it's really sad."

"I was very disheartened because I've worked with Fauci since the 1980s, and he's done a lot of good things over his career, but I think most Americans now will remember him largely for a scientist that went before the Senate and took the fifth," he added, referencing Fauci's refusal to answer questions in a recent Senate hearing.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.