Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., reiterated his call for Dr. Anthony Fauci’s resignation after confronting the White House’s Covid Czar about the coronavirus’s origins during a congressional hearing.
Paul alleged that Fauci lied under oath yet again this week, when he denied that the U.S. funded gain-of-function research.
“What he’s trying to do is redefine [gain-of-function],” Paul told Fox News. “He’s using a smarmy world salad to get around what happened.”
No amount of smarmy word salad will get Fauci out of the fact that he lied before Congress. #FauciResign pic.twitter.com/lo81FphHeq
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 4, 2021
Paul pressed on why Fauci denied before Congress that the National Institutes of Health, under his direction, funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, when the NIH recently admitted that it had, in fact, funded such controversial research.
“Dr. Fauci, I don’t expect you today to admit that you approved of NIH funding for a gain of function research in Wuhan, but your repeated denials have worn thin,” Paul said.
“The facts are clear,” he said. “The NIH did fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan despite your protestations.”
Fauci’s “persistent denials” are “not simply a stain on your reputation but are a clear and present danger to the country and to the world” since it is clear that his funding in Wuhan might have helped create the COVID-19 pandemic, Paul added.
Fauci responded by claiming that the definition of “gain-of-function” research is not clear and that it could mean several different things. But Paul rejected this argument, pointing out that until recently the NIH provided its own definition of the term on its website.
“There’s the preponderance of evidence now points towards this coming from the lab and what you’ve done is change the definition on your website to try to cover your a**,” Paul said.
“You won’t admit that it’s dangerous,” he said. “And for that lack of judgment, I think it’s time that you resign.”