Last week’s fight between Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Dr. Anthony Fauci finished with Paul referring a criminal referral to the Department of Justice to investigate the accuracy of Fauci’s comments to Congress under oath and crying out to his corporate media buddies.
The hearing on July 21 included Paul taking down Fauci’s misdirection about approving federal taxpayer funding of gain-of-function viral research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Paul allowed Fauci to correct or withdraw any earlier testimony, which Fauci indignantly refused.
Paul explicitly warned Fauci that he would eventually be held accountable for his statements to Congress and his role in the gain-of-function research that many now believe led to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci’s testimony on July 21 amounted to legalistic denials and attempts to shift definitions of what gain-of-function research means. Fauci was visibly agitated and stressed during his interview with Sen. Paul.
Paul did follow up on the hearing by sending a criminal referral letter to the DOJ as he had earlier promised to do.
Fauci visited a social media outlet after the hearing, granting an on-air interview to MSNBC. In pouting over the treatment he received from Sen. Paul, Fauci accused Paul of slandering him.
“I don’t take any pleasure in clashing with a senator,” Fauci told MSNBC. He added that he found Paul “made some inflammatory and, I believe, slanderous remarks about lying under oath.”
“I mean, and some of the things he says are so distorted, and out of tune with reality, I had to call him on that. I didn’t enjoy it, but I had to do that because he was completely out of line. Totally inappropriate,” Fauci continued.
Of course, Fauci did not contest anything Paul has said as being untruthful. Factual statements are not, by definition, slanderous. Fauci appears to be completely uncomfortable defending his actions when he is not speaking to a friendly media source or politician.
Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin appeared on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business show and said of Fauci’s testimony, “He’s culpable. He’s lying, and he needs to be held accountable.”
Sen. Paul’s criminal referral to the DOJ is only a request for an investigation. It does not legally obligate the DOJ to prosecute or even investigate Fauci’s statements and actions.
