Rand Paul Says He Will Ask DOJ For 'Criminal Referral' Over Fauci Testimony

By FOX News
Posted on 07/21/21 | News Source: FOX News

Sen. Rand Paul said he will send a letter to the Department of Justice asking for a criminal investigation of Dr. Anthony Fauci

"I will be sending a letter to Department of Justice asking for a criminal referral because he has lied to Congress. We have scientists that were lined up by the dozens to say that the research he was funding was gain-of-function," the Kentucky Republican told Sean Hannity of Fauci on Tuesday evening’s "Hannity" program.  

"He's doing this because he has a self interest to cover his tracks and to cover his connection to Wuhan lab," Paul continued. 

Paul’s interview comes after he and Fauci had another heated exchange during a Senate hearing Tuesday when the two traded accusations of "lying" over gain-of-function research at a Wuhan lab floated as the origin of the coronavirus.

The NIH and NIAID have said they supported grants to research viruses in bats but never funded gain-of-function research of coronaviruses and transmissibility for humans.   

"Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11th, where you claimed that the NIH never funded gains of function research in Wuhan," Paul asked the NIAID director at one point in the hearing. The comment came after he cited a paper on research about bat coronaviruses, and quoting Dr. Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University, that the "research matches, indeed epitomizes the definition of gain-of-function research."