Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has officially requested that the Justice Department investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci for allegedly “lying to Congress” during a hearing. The request to open an investigation comes after Paul’s threats to Fauci during a congressional hearing last week. Paul asked Fauci to retract his statement that NIH did not fund research at China’s Wuhan lab.
“As you are aware it is a crime to lie to Congress,” Paul told Fauci last week. In response, Fauci told Paul, “You do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially. You do not know what you’re talking about… If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you.”
This heated exchange signals a larger problem, namely Republican distrust in Fauci, and much of the medical information which comes from the White House and NIH. Paul further explained his complaint against Fauci, claiming that the NIH funded so-call “gain of function” research that tested increasing the strength of pathogens like COVI-19. “He’s lying about whether or not he funded gain-of-function research, and yes, he should be punished,” he told Fox News.
Fauci’s emails, which were recently published under the Freedom of Information Act, had some redacted section that raised suspicions about his role within both Wuhan lab and organizations which fund the lab.
