Sen. Rand Paul Asks DOJ to Investigate Dr. Fauci – Watch
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Dr. Anthony Fauci for allegedly lying to Congress about funding gain-of-function research in China.
Paul wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland last week, saying Fauci had committed perjury when he told a Senate committee in July 2021 that the National Institutes of Health “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).”
The 2020 email from Fauci focused on a call he shared with various scientists, including Francis Collins, (former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute), who were “concerned about the fact that upon viewing the sequences of several isolates of the nCoV, there were mutations in the virus that would be most unusual to have evolved naturally in the bats and that there was a suspicion that this mutation was inserted.”
This key passage immediately followed: “The suspicion was heightened by the fact that scientists in Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine the molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection, and the outbreak originated in Wuhan.”
Paul’s request comes after a series of heated exchanges between the two men over the issue. In May, Fauci testified before Congress that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had not funded gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. However, Paul has produced evidence that suggests otherwise.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Paul wrote that “Dr. Fauci’s testimony to Congress was false, and he may have committed a crime by lying to Congress.” He asked the DOJ to investigate the matter and “take appropriate action.”
Fauci has denied that he lied to Congress. He has said that he used the term “gain-of-function research” in the way that it is commonly understood by scientists.
The DOJ has not yet said whether it will investigate Paul’s referral. However, the request has been met with support from some right-wing media outlets and conservative politicians.
I’ve referred Anthony Fauci to the DOJ (again) for lying to Congress when he denied the NIH was funding of gain-of-function research in Wuhan. https://t.co/LuPDleRhYW
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) July 18, 2023
