OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has taken another swipe at his arch nemesis, Anthony Fauci, claiming that the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is not really retired and is still working for the government. The senator appeared on Fox News on Wednesday and spoke to host Sean Hannity about what he says he found.
“There is a massive coverup going on and the lead in all of the coverup has been Fauci,” the senator said. “We now have information that he is still working for the government even though he says he is retired. It is my belief that he is worried about being indicted and so he continues to work so he will get legal protection under the federal government.”
“This is wrong on every level of it and we are going to get to the bottom of it. We are sending a letter to find out what the actual status of his employment is,” he said to the host.
“Is he retired? Is he still getting a federal detail? There is a lot of stuff going on, but at the top of every sort of concern we have it is Tony Fauci,” he said.
WATCH:
A week ago, Paul said that he believes Fauci weaponized the government to get people on board with dismissing the COVID lab leak theory.
“This guy weaponized the NIAD. He weaponized it to get his supporters,” the senator said. “At first, they said, ‘My goodness. It came from a lab.’ And then, all of a sudden, they changed their mind. They got more money. They got more grants.”
“He used that grant-making authority — who gets it — and he weaponized government to get what he wanted,” he said, “and that was the cover-up.”
@RandPaul on Fauci cashing in off the Covid vaccine: $400 million in total goes to the NIH and even if it’s goes back out in grants, it’s still self-interested. Fauci was in charge of dispensing all this money while being a policy maker. pic.twitter.com/7DjXvinvHk
— Jesse Watters Primetime (@jesseprimetime) March 23, 2023
House Republicans led by Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan of Ohio are reportedly “building” a case against Fauci, according to a breaking report on Friday.
“So, specifically before your committee, and also before Rand Paul over in the Senate, Dr. Fauci has, of course, absolved himself of all funding of gain-of-function,” conservative podcaster Benny Johnson said in an interview with Jordan. “He said he doesn’t know anything about it. It is verifiable and demonstrable that he lied. Now, there are codes in Congress. I have a code right here, 18 U.S. Code 1001.”
“1001,” Jordan responded.
“Statements — false statements to Congress,” Johnson noted. “Says you can be imprisoned, says you can be imprisoned for eight years if you lie to Congress. It seems like there has never been a more clear-cut case of some individual lying to Congress.”
“Yeah, we can do — there could be a referral, but you would refer to the Biden Justice Department,” Jordan responded. “I don’t know that — they’re going to pursue that, but you can definitely do that. You could, have to have one of the committees, the Senate Judiciary Committee could do a referral. I doubt they will with the Democrats in charge.”
“We could do a referral potentially,” the Ohio Republican continued. “I would, frankly, prefer just to have Dr. Fauci come back in and take another round of questions here, but we’re building the case. You know, like, we had Dr. Redfield testify last week, Chairman Wenstrup did. I thought he was — I thought he was great. As were the other witnesses that were brought in.”
“So, again, laying that foundation,” he continued. “I do think Dr. Fauci and the CDC changed the definition of gain-of-function research, so that Fauci has, like, this wiggle room, but they were juicing up this virus, no doubt about it, juicing up this virus, making it more — I don’t know the technical, but making it juiced up and more deadly, I guess, maybe the correct word.”
“Yes,” Johnson responded.
“So, they were doing that in this lab and I think that’s clear,” Jordan said. “So, we’ll just have to see as we move through this investigation.”
Paul issued a brutal statement to Fauci, formerly the country’s lead immunologist, as he was set to retire in December. Fauci, who declared that he had no regrets about how he handled the pandemic was asked in an interview if there was anything he would do differently regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.
“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.
