Tuesday saw Senator Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci again lay into each other during a hearing, with the latter accusing Paul of using their previous exchanges and the COVID crisis for political gain.
Fauci brandished print outs from Paul’s website, claiming that the Senator was personally attacking him in order to raise campaign funds.
Dr. Fauci came to the hearing with printouts from Sen. Rand Paul's website. pic.twitter.com/Wij11hRJaK
— Jeremy Art (@cspanJeremy) January 11, 2022
The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) also suggested that by claiming there has been subterfuge and lying during past testimony, Paul is intentionally riling up ‘crazies’ who have sent Fauci death threats.
“What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls, because people are lying about me,” Fauci told the Senate panel.
Fauci then claimed a guy from California had been arrested in Iowa last month as he was on a trip to kill Fauci with an AR15 rifle.
Fauci said “The police asked him where he was going and he was going to Washington, D.C., to kill Dr. Fauci,” he said. “They found in his car, an AR-15 and multiple magazines of ammunition because he thinks that maybe I’m killing people.”
Rand Paul was shot at on a baseball field, beaten up by his neighbor, and surrounded by an angry mob outside the White House so it's incredible to watch Dr. Fauci whine about the death threats he receives to him instead of answering his questions.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 11, 2022
“In usual fashion, senator, you are distorting everything about me,” Fauci said, adding “This happens all the time, you personally attack me, with absolutely not a shred of evidence about anything you say.”
Paul shot back at Fauci, “It’s disappointing for you to suggest that people who dare to question you are responsible somehow for violent threats.”
Watch:
Dr. Fauci then demands time to read from remarks attacking @RandPaul for criticizing him w/o "a shred of evidence" and directly blames those who've disagreed w/him for the death threats he's received & messages to family members.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 11, 2022
He adds Paul is doing it "for political reasons." pic.twitter.com/AzF8IsjRit
Fauci wraps his latest back-and-forth with @RandPaul by arguing Paul and critics are threatening his life and "making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain" because he wants to amass political donations. (6/6) pic.twitter.com/fj2f71c6ow
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 11, 2022
Paul responded to Fauci by charging “You have politically attacked your colleagues and in a politically reprehensible way you’ve attacked their reputations.”
The Senator also noted that “The idea that a government official like yourself would claim unilaterally to represent science and that any criticism of you would be considered a criticism of science itself is quite dangerous.”
Paul also charged that Fauci and former National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, had colluded to bring about a “published takedown” of scientists who didn’t follow their narrative on COVID and resisted lockdowns and other severe restrictions.
.@RandPaul to Fauci: "[T]he idea that a government official like yourself would claim unilaterally to represent science and that any criticism of you would be considered a criticism of science itself is quite dangerous...It is cheap politics & it is reprehensible." pic.twitter.com/b6JCaaHQTR
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 11, 2022
Following Project Veritas’ release of documents from DARPA highlighting how Fauci and Collins spoke about a “take down” of scientists who they disagreed with, Paul also charged that Fauci attempted to discredit scientists who amplified evidence that the COVID pandemic originated with a lab leak.
Paul further noted “In an email exchange with Dr. [Francis] Collins you conspire and I quote here directly from the email to create a quick and devastating published takedown of three prominent epidemiologist from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford. (Apparently, there’s a lot of fringe epidemiologist at Harvard, Oxford and Stanford.) And you quote in the email that they are from Dr. Collins and you you agree that they are fringe. Immediately as this takedown ethic.”
>Dr. Fauci then accuses @RandPaul of showing little concern for the 900,000 Americans who've died from COVID and instead leveling "personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality."
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) January 11, 2022
Paul counters w/mental health + how more have died under Biden than Trump. pic.twitter.com/XSunPAs6yM
“A published takedown, though,” Paul continued, “you know, doesn’t exactly conjure up the image of a dispassionate scientist. adding Instead of engaging them on the merits you and Dr. Collins sought to smear them is fringe and take them down. And not in journals, in lay press. This is not only antithetical to the scientific method; it’s cheap politics and it’s reprehensible, Dr. Fauci. Do you really think it’s appropriate to use your $420,000 salary to attack scientists that disagree with you?”
Elsewhere during the hearing, Fauci was caught on a hot mic calling Senator Roger Marshall a “moron” after getting into a tense back and forth concerning financial disclosures.
Senator Marshall is a Doctor. Stay classy, Tony. https://t.co/J737m44OYk
— Abigail Marone 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) January 11, 2022
