Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is accusing Dr. Anthony Fauci of deliberately misleading Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying newly revealed private communications show a stark divide between what the longtime infectious disease official was saying behind closed doors and what he was telling the public.

“He knew that he was lying, and there was something about his character that made him feel that that was okay,” Kennedy said Friday during an appearance on “The Alex Marlow Show.”

Kennedy, who authored a highly critical book about Fauci before becoming a member of the Trump administration, said the newly disclosed material largely reinforced conclusions he had already reached. Still, he said seeing Fauci’s private remarks placed alongside his public pronouncements was “really bracing.”

“There was just this massive delta between what he was telling himself every day and then what he was telling the country,” Kennedy said.

The HHS secretary further charged that Fauci became enamored with the public attention he received during the pandemic, pointing to what Kennedy characterized as Fauci’s “vanity” and “giddiness” about his newfound celebrity status.

“It was all, ‘Make people do what we want them to do,’ and then, you know, enjoy the fame,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s broadside comes as congressional Republicans renew their scrutiny of Fauci and his actions during the pandemic.

Fauci on Friday rejected a request to voluntarily appear before Sen. Ron Johnson’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. His attorney contended that subjecting Fauci to another appearance would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”

The refusal followed a combative July 29 Senate hearing during which Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination approximately 100 times.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee later voted along party lines to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress, potentially clearing the way for the matter to be referred to the Justice Department.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of Fauci’s most persistent congressional critics, has argued that Fauci should not be allowed to rely on the Fifth Amendment when questioned about actions covered by President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon.

Fauci’s legal team has countered that even with the pardon in place, answers he provides in new testimony could potentially expose him to additional legal jeopardy.

Kennedy conceded that Biden’s pardon presents a significant hurdle to any effort by the Trump administration to pursue criminal charges against Fauci over his actions during the pandemic.

“The problem with prosecuting Dr. Fauci is that the Biden administration gave him a full pardon,” Kennedy said. “So it makes it difficult.”

Kennedy’s acknowledgment highlights the practical obstacle facing Republicans who have spent years demanding that Fauci be held legally accountable for alleged wrongdoing.

Although Paul and other Republicans have repeatedly called for Fauci to face prosecution, Biden’s preemptive pardon has made the prospect of building a criminal case based on Fauci’s pandemic-era conduct considerably more complicated.

Kennedy maintained, however, that the importance of the newly disclosed Fauci communications goes well beyond the question of whether the longtime National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director can ever face criminal prosecution.

The HHS secretary said restoring Americans’ confidence in federal public health institutions will require officials to be candid about uncertainty rather than presenting unsettled questions as established facts. Government officials, he argued, must be willing to clearly distinguish between what they know and what remains unknown.

“It’s absolutely critical that people believe the government agencies when they say something,” Kennedy said.

“And that means that the government agencies have to trust the people and trust that they can tell them the truth.”