OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former White House COVID adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci has responded to upcoming investigations by House Republicans, telling Fox News host Neil Cavuto that he has “nothing to hide.”
“I have a great deal of respect, Neil, for the process of oversight,” Fauci said. “I really do. I have nothing to hide, I can explain everything that I have done during the period of time that I was involved in that process. And I have no trouble with testifying before the Congress at all.”
“So, they want to get into this with you. And it could get pretty nasty. Are you prepared for that?” Cavuto asked.
“Yes,” Fauci responded. “I mean, I — like I said, Neil, I have no problem. I can defend everything that I have said and done. There was an explanation for it. This was a moving target right from the beginning. And people need to appreciate that, when something is obvious in January or February, that might not be the same in March, April, May, June, or the rest of the summer.”
“I have been completely, totally, 100 percent honest about everything,” Fauci said.
WATCH:
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul issued a brutal statement to Fauci, the country’s lead immunologist who declared that he had no regrets about how he handled the pandemic.
During an interview, Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since Ronald Reagan’s first term in the early 1980s, was asked if there was anything he would do differently.
“I’m the first to admit I’m far from perfect, but when you say do over, you know, I really can’t see something that I would do completely over,” Fauci said.
Paul was not happy with Fauci’s remark.
“Likely there is no public figure, or public health figure, that has made a greater error in judgment than Dr. Fauci,” said Paul, who frequently clashed with Fauci during Senate oversight hearings into Fauci’s responses and recommendations regarding the pandemic.
“Think about it. This is right up there with decisions, some of them malevolent or military, to kill millions of people,” Paul said. “This is accidental, but it goes to judgment.”
“Historically, he will be remembered for one of the worst judgments in the history of modern medicine,” he said, going on to say he planned to try and hold Fauci “accountable” for funding the research.
“I will not only hold Dr. Fauci accountable, we will finally investigate why your tax dollars were sent to fund dangerous research in Wuhan,” he said.
According to WKYU-FM, Paul described his post-election celebration as “Dr. Fauci’s retirement party.”
“Are you listening Dr. Fauci? No bureaucrat should be above the law,” Paul said. “No bureaucrat should be allowed to deny information to Congress, and no bureaucrat should be allowed to lie to Congress.”
In December 2021, Paul publicly accused Fauci of lying to Congress during his Senate testimony.
In an interview with Fox Business, the Kentucky Republican admitted he does not “have a lot of hope” that Fauci is going to be charged by President Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, who likely is not going to be “objectively looking” at the chief White House medical adviser’s congressional testimony.
“We’ve referred him to the Department of Justice, but then again, Merrick Garland is the one now going after parents that go to school board meetings,” Paul said.
“So I don’t have a lot of hope that Merrick Garland is objectively looking at Fauci’s lying,” Paul continued, followed by a pointed 12-word statement about the NIAID director: “Fauci should go to prison for five years for lying to Congress.”
“They have prosecuted other people. They have selectively gone after Republicans, but in no way will they do anything about him lying. But he should be prosecuted for lying,” Paul, who is a practicing ophthalmologist, said.
