Courtesy C-SPAN
In a terse back-and-forth in front of a Senate committee hearing Tuesday, White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci called Sen. Rand Paul a liar.
During testimony at a hearing on COVID response televised by C-SPAN, Paul accused Fauci of lying to Congress about if the National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave funding to a lab in Wuhan, China, that has come under intense scrutiny as a possible source of the virus.
According to CNBC, Paul (R-KY), intimated that the funding was for “gain of function research,” described as when laboratories alter a pathogen to make it more transmissible to better predict emerging diseases.
Paul suggested that Fauci lied before Congress in May when asked about funding gain of function research could have contributed to the spread of the COVID pandemic.
“Dr. Fauci, knowing it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement?” Paul asked.
In his response, Fauci heatedly accused Paul of blurring the facts.
“Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I would like to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about,” Fauci said.
The two interrupted each other about whether the NIH directly funded the controversial research and if the research the NIH did fund contributed to the spread of the coronavirus.
“You’re dancing around this because you’re trying to obscure responsibility for 4 million people dying around the world from a pandemic,” Paul said. “All the evidence is pointing that it (COVID) came from the lab and there will be responsibility for those who funded the lab, including yourself.”
CNBC reported the NIH funded a nonprofit that assisted in research into bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab, but Fauci said qualified experts concluded that it did not constitute gain of function research.
As Paul continually interrupted him, Fauci raised his voice and jabbed a finger at Rand.
“You are implying that what we did resulted in the deaths of individuals,” Fauci said. “I totally resent that, and if anyone is lying here, senator, it is you.”