It’s no secret that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Dr. Anthony Fauci don’t get along, but the GOP senator has recently vowed to take down the former chief medical adviser to the White House, saying he has “bombshell revelations.”
Paul made his remarks about going after Fauci while speaking with Fox Business on Tuesday.
“We now have emails that show [Fauci] saying that he knows it was gain-of-function, that the virus looked manipulated, and that he was worried that this came from the Wuhan lab,” Paul said. “Feb. 1, 2020, then he spent the last three years saying ‘nothing to see here.’ We also know that there was a safety committee that should have reviewed this, and we know that Anthony Fauci went around the safety committee.”
Paul went on to say that this was a “bombshell revelation” and would “eventually bring down Anthony Fauci.”
The question of where the COVID-19 pandemic originated has been hotly debated for some time, with Paul and Fauci often being at the center of it before the doctor retired.
While Paul maintains that the virus originated from a lab in Wuhan, China, Fauci and others disagree.
In a report from the Department of Energy from earlier this year, investigators had a “low confidence” rating that the virus came from a lab in China.
However, earlier this year, the FBI discussed the origins of the virus, and Director Christopher Wray said, “the FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan.”
While speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity earlier this week, Paul said that “without question” he thinks Fauci should face jail time over his involvement with the origins of COVID-19.
“In public, he’s saying, ‘Oh, if you say it came from the lab, you’re a conspiracy theorist, you’re crazy, it’s a fringe theory,’” Paul said. “But in private, he’s saying, ‘We’re very concerned because the virus appears to be manipulated, and we’re also very concerned because we know they’re doing gain-of-function research in Wuhan.’”
The calls to prosecute Fauci are nothing new, and when asked about them earlier this year, the doctor questioned what he did that was illegal.
“I mean, prosecute me for what? What are they talking about? I mean, I wish I could figure out what the heck they were talking about,” he said. “I think they’re just going off the deep end...It doesn’t make any sense to say something like that, and it actually is irresponsible.”