Rand Paul Wants Fauci Taken Down or a New Law Passed

Senator Rand Paul is still aiming to take down Dr. Anthony Fauci—or have a new law passed to regulate gain-of-function research.

The Republican from Kentucky appeared on The Will Cain Podcast this week and spoke about how Fauci, the former chief White House medical adviser, allegedly committed crimes related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"He lied to Congress, that's a felony," Paul said while speaking about Fauci. "I've referred him for prosecution, and [Attorney General] Merrick Garland has responded saying he got our letter, but there's been no investigation as we know of.

"We know he lied, not because I say so but because his private emails contradict his public statements," Paul said. "To me, culpability is important, but I don't have control, I can't prosecute...but the other thing I want to have happen is, I want this type of research that we're paying for through our tax dollars to be circumscribed, to be regulated, to have a real committee of scientists looking at what is worthwhile, what is not worthwhile.

"So I'm not giving up on this til we either get culpability and/or a new law that says we can't do this research without more oversight," the senator said.

Newsweek reached out to Paul's press office via email for comment. Newsweek's attempts to contact Fauci via email were unsuccessful.

Paul continues to attack Fauci over issues relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine. In July, Paul announced a criminal referral for Fauci, saying that the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director lied about the origins of COVID and gain-of-function research at a lab in Wuhan, China.

Responding to a post on X, formerly Twitter, which showed a private email Fauci sent discussing the suspicion that gain-of-function research was being used at a Wuhan lab, Paul said, "This directly contradicts everything he said in committee hearing to me, denying absolutely that they funded any gain of function, and it's absolutely a lie. That's why I sent an official criminal referral to the DOJ."

In a Newsweek op-ed published in 2021, Paul said that gain-of-function research "essentially means juicing up naturally occurring animal viruses in a lab to make them more infectious among humans."

Last month, Paul said during an interview with Fox Business: "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...This is a bombshell revelation, and this will eventually bring down Anthony Fauci."

The Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has also taken aim at Fauci. In a letter in September, committee Chairman Representative Brad Wenstrup claimed that Fauci had private meetings with officials from the Central Intelligence Agency to discuss the origins of COVID-19.

While appearing before Congress in 2021, Fauci responded to claims by Paul that the National Institute of Health was funding gain-of-function research and said, "Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about quite frankly, and I want to say that officially: You do not know what you are talking about."