Rand Paul on Tuesday night called Dr. Anthony Fauci for being a 'menace', a 'political creature' and not a scientist after their showdown during a Senate Health Committee hearing earlier that day.
The Kentucky senator insisted to Fox News' Martha MacCallum that there is a probability of '90 to 10' that the COVID-19 virus was engineered through gain-of-function research in a lab in Wuhan, China and subsequently leaked from that lab. He has also blamed Fauci's department of the National institute of Health for helping fund the lab and it's gain-of-function research.
Fauci, the nation's top immunologist and White House go-to on the coronavirus response, has repeatedly denied these claims to Paul's face in a series of terse back-and-forths during committee hearings over the last nearly two years.
Bombshell email revelations now show that even leading Western experts admitted that a Wuhan lab leak is the most 'likely' cause and origin of the COVID-19 virus.
Top UK government health adviser Sir Jeremy Farra, who publicly denounced the theory as a 'conspiracy', admitted in private emails to Fauci and Dr. Francis Collins in February 2020 that a 'likely explanation' was that the virus was man-made.
The exchanges between Fauci and Paul have become increasingly heated as Fauci has upped his rhetoric toward the Kentucky senator. Paul on Tuesday accused Fauci of using government resources and his $430,000-a-year salary to attack scientists who disagree with him.
During the contentious hearing on Tuesday, Fauci held up a piece of paper with a fundraising page for Paul printed on it showing the senator used his altercations with Fauci to try and attract donors.
Senator Rand Paul is confident that COVID-19 was engineered and leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. He told Fox News on Tuesday that there is a '90 to 10' probability that this is the case
Paul's comments came after a heated Senate Health Committee hearing on Tuesday where Fauci slammed Paul for fundraising off their arguments and accused the Kentucky senator of inciting violence against him after he received a death threat
'I ask myself, why would senator (sic) want to do this? So go to Rand Paul website and you see 'Fire Dr. Fauci' with a little box that says, 'Contribute here.' You can do $5, $10, $20, $100 – so you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain,' Fauci accused of Paul during the hearing.
Fox News' Laura Ingraham played that clip during an interview with Senator Paul on Tuesday evening and pointed out that Fauci's position in government has also led to his own personal and financial gain. She asked Paul about the clip: 'Your reaction to that? You know, he's had a documentary made about him, a book deal, been on magazine covers and cool Ray Ban shades – .'
'Didn't he win an Emmy, also?' Paul interjected in jest.
'But no, we want people to go to RandPaul.com if they want to get rid of Tony Fauci. It's a political thing,' Paul confirmed. 'He is a political creature.'
'We think he should be put up on charges, but he's not going to until there is an intervening election, so elections do make a difference,' he continued. 'I think he is a menace. I think he has lied to the American public. I think that he funded the lab in Wuhan – that in all likelihood this virus came from. I think he's ignored natural immunity. I think he has told people to wear cloth masks when they don't work.
'I think he's abusing his office,' Paul said to Ingraham. 'So, yes, we would go after him personally because he attacked others personally with his office.'
In his separate interview with McCallum on Tuesday, Paul pushed his claims that Fauci funded the Wuhan lab.
He also told Fox News' Laura Ingraham in a separate interview Tuesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci is a 'political creature' and not acting as a scientist anymore but more like a politician
'[Fauci] funded the lab,' Paul insisted. 'He tried to obscure the idea that he was giving money to the lab and then he steadfastly, for two years, said it wasn't gain-of-function, that they weren't taking viruses that don't exist in nature, creating them and creating viruses that are so dangerous that they could actually wipe out a portion of humanity.'
'He continues to deny that if this came from the lab – yes, he's culpable,' Paul added.
'So when you ask him to investigate it, he's not exactly interested. He has a conflict of interest because it came from the lab.'
Fauci was caught on hot mic during the Health Committee hearing Tuesday calling Senator Roger Marshall a 'moron' after the Republican lawmaker accused him of hiding finances.
The immunologist responded to Marshall after telling him many times his financial disclosures, including his $434,212-a-year salary, are public knowledge and following an intense showdown with his nemesis Rand Paul.
After Marshall's time was up, the infectious disease expert could be heard sighing: 'What a moron, Jesus Christ.'
He and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky appeared before the Senate panel to defend the Biden administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as it nears the end of its second year and with the administration and agency facing a crisis of confidence and trust.
Upon retirement, Fauci will be awarded with the largest-ever federal pension making upwards of $350,000 per year.
Paul has also accused Fauci of being responsible for the COVID deaths of thousands because he has not put any focus or emphasis on therapeutics for the virus and instead has shifted all efforts to pushing the vaccine on every American.
During the hearing Tuesday, Fauci blamed Paul for his attacks leading to death threats.
But Paul disputed that during his interview with Ingraham, claiming Republicans did not blame Senator Bernie Sanders when one of his radical supporters unleashed gun power during a GOP practice for the annual Congressional Baseball Game in 2017. Republican Whip Steve Scalise, U.S. Capitol police officer Crystal Griner, congressional aide Zack Barth and lobbyist Matt Mika were all shot in the attack.
'Before he was saying he was science and you were attacking science, but now he said if you attack him you're encouraging violence against him,' Paul said of Fauci's mentality.
'Well, he said it to the wrong person. Look, I was at the ball field when Steve Scalise was shot. I had a staff member 10 feet from me who was shot. I know what it was like to be shot at. I've had what looked like anthrax powder delivered to my house. My wife and I have been assaulted and mobbed in the streets of D.C. I had a hater of President Trump break six of my ribs. I've had part of my lung removed. I know what political violence is about,' he listed.
'I don't wish any violence on Fauci,' Paul continued. 'I do wish he'd be fired though because I think trusting the Chinese is wrong. I think funding that lab in China is wrong. I think ignoring natural immunity is wrong. But I don't wish him any harm.'
'But one thing's for sure, none of us at the ball field – not one Republican – blamed Bernie Sanders for that shooting,' Paul said. 'We were not juvenile enough to do that. But [Fauci] came to the hearing today and accused me of somehow inciting some looney toons person.'
'Does he not realize I have people arrested once every month or two who threaten to attack me plus I have been attacked and he's going to blame his attacks on me? It wasn't fair. It was a cheap shot – but it was a cheap shot by a politician and not a scientist.'
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