Dr. Anthony Fauci, Fresh Out Of F*cks, Slams Rand Paul
An exchange between Dr. Fauci and Rand Paul became heated, with both accusing the other of lying to Congress
Poor Dr. Anthony Fauci. That guy has been put through the wringer. He’s dedicated more than 50 years of his life to public health, including becoming a political punching bag throughout the COVID-19 pandemic just for doing his job: Advising public policy to try to keep Americans from getting sick and save as many lives as possible. The guy deserves every vacation in the world, but he’s still working, despite the lack of thanks from large swaths of the public he’s actively protecting — and utter contempt from Republican lawmakers he’s forced to work with.
Well, the guy has finally run out of fucks, and we can’t even blame him. During a Senate committee hearing, Fauci got into a heated exchange with Sen. Rand Paul, and the gloves came off.
The committee hearing was to discuss whether the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded something called “gain of function research,” which involved altering pathogens to make them more contagious to study emerging diseases, at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Wuhan research center has come under fire for being a place where COVID-19 might have been leaked to the public, starting the pandemic. The NIH has provided funding to nonprofit groups who have done research there, but scientists agree that the U.S. has not funded gain of function research in Wuhan.
Fauci told Congress that back in May, but in another Senate hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Paul grilled him again.
First, Paul asked Fauci if he would like to take back his statements he made in May, adding, “Fauci, as you are aware it is a crime to lie to Congress.”
Fauci responded, “I have not lied before Congress. I have never lied. Certainly not before Congress. Case closed.”
Fauci added that a study that Paul has identified as proof of his claims isn’t even about gain of function research. “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I would like to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about,” he said.
Paul then accused Fauci of “obfuscating the truth,” and as the two men talked over one another, Fauci said, once again, that real scientists (which Paul is not) have examined the study in question “up and down” and agreed it’s not about gain of function research.
Finally, Fauci snapped.
“You are implying that what we did resulted in the deaths of individuals,” he said, pointing his finger at Paul. “I totally resent that, and if anyone is lying here, senator, it is you.”
We’re all tired. But can you even imagine how tired Fauci must be? Good for him for standing his ground and continuing to spread truth, even in the face of people who are determined to undermine him at every opportunity.
