Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) opened Anthony Fauci’s testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee with a blistering indictment, accusing the longtime public health official of misleading the public about COVID-19’s origins, funding risky research in Wuhan, and refusing to accept responsibility for the pandemic response.

Appearing before the committee, Fauci faced sharp criticism from Chairman Paul, who used his opening remarks to outline what he described as years of contradictions, particularly between Fauci’s public statements and the contents of his private diary.

“Publicly Anthony Fauci promoted the theory that the virus arose naturally, while privately he was well aware of a mountain of evidence suggesting the virus originated in the lab. The American people deserve answers,” Paul said. “The American people deserve to know why dangerous research was funded by NIAID in a totalitarian country, in a lab that lacked acceptable safety standards. The decision to fund dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, will likely go down in history as perhaps one of the worst public health decisions.”

Paul said he had hoped Fauci would use the hearing to acknowledge mistakes and apologize for supporting research in Wuhan that has come under intense scrutiny. Instead, he argued, Fauci has continued to distance himself from the consequences of the government’s pandemic policies.

“Instead of an apology, you have for years avoided responsibility regarding the lockdowns. You argue that you did not personally issue every lockdown order, close every school, or impose every mandate,” Paul said, noting that officials across the nation invoked Fauci’s authority “to justify these decisions, and you presented your recommendations not as judgments open to debate, but as dictates of science itself, your own words demonstrate that you understood the influence you exercised.”

Paul contended that Fauci’s guidance played a central role in enabling the nationwide lockdowns, which he said devastated families, education, and businesses. He also pointed to Fauci’s own private notes, saying they revealed that many scientists initially believed a laboratory origin for the virus was plausible.

“While you concluded publicly that COVID occurred naturally, your private record tells a different story. In early 2020, your handpicked virologist warned that the virus appeared to have been manipulated in the lab. In a conference call concerning the origin of the virus, all but two of the participants believed deliberate insertion was possible,” Paul reminded Fauci.

Paul further asserted that Fauci quickly sought to determine whether the National Institutes of Health had financed the research now under suspicion, saying internal communications documented that effort.

“Your concern was not merely theoretical. That same week, you led an urgent effort to determine whether your own agency had funded the research related to these experiments that were now under suspicion,” he said. “Hours later, your assistant reported that the Wuhan experiments had indeed been reviewed and approved by the NIH.”

Expanding his criticism, Paul traced what he described as Fauci’s longstanding support for gain-of-function research, arguing that the controversy stretches back well before the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In 2011, your agency funded Ron Fouchier’s laboratory when it mutated the avian flu until it could spread through the air between mammals. This was the the tipping point. This is when others became worried. You funded this. You advocated for this. The federal government’s own biosecurity board, though, recommended withholding the details of these experiments because of the danger the research posed. People were concerned that publishing it was publishing a roadmap to creating bio weapons around the world,” he said, adding, “But you sided with the gain-of-function scientist Fouchier and argued that the benefits of publishing the research far outweighed the risks.”

Paul also accused Fauci of changing his position depending on the audience, saying he broadly defended the value of gain-of-function research but later relied on narrow technical definitions when pressed by lawmakers.

“When you defended this research, you described its benefits in the broadest terms. But when Congress demanded accountability, you hid behind the narrowest possible definition. You can’t have it both ways,” Paul said, adding that Fauci’s “conduct concerning federal records raises further questions.”

The senator then turned to allegations involving federal records, claiming the committee’s investigation uncovered evidence that emails had been deleted despite laws requiring their preservation.

“It is a crime to destroy federal records. Yet our investigation reveals your assistant diligently reported that she deleted tons of emails in 2024,” he said, reminding Fauci he is appearing before the committee, compelled by subpoena.

Paul concluded by emphasizing that Fauci’s appearance before the panel was mandatory, while also referencing the pardon he received from President Joe Biden.

“You’re here today under duress. You’re here today because of the court ordering it. President Biden issued you a sweeping pardon extending back to 2014, the same pardon he gave to his son Hunter. A pardon may protect a person from criminal prosecution,” he said, noting it “doesn’t rewrite history.”

In his own opening remarks, Fauci announced that he would decline to answer questions from the committee, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

{Matzav.com}