Sen. Paul raises email in which Fauci conspired “takedown” against scientists from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford.
QUICK FACTS:
- Kentucky Senator Rand Paul confronted NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci about an email between Fauci and former NIH director Dr. Collins, in which the two apparently planned a “takedown” of scientists from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford who disagreed with Fauci.
- “Do you really think it’s appropriate to use your $420,000 salary to attack scientists who disagree with you?” Paul asked Fauci.
- “In usual fashion, Senator, you are distorting everything about me,” responded Dr. Fauci, before the two went on for minutes sparring.
WATCH THE EXCHANGE BETWEEN SEN. PAUL & DR. FAUCI:
SEN. PAUL STRIKES AT DR. FAUCI:
“More people have died now under President Biden than did under President Trump,” Paul said to Fauci. “You are the one responsible. You are…the lead architect for the response from the government, and now 800,000 people have died. [Do] you think it’s a winning success, what you’ve advocated for government?”
BACKGROUND:
- Paul is a trained ophthalmologist whose libertarian outlook has made him a natural opponent to many pandemic restrictions, notes Yahoo! News, he and Fauci have argued at several previous hearings, with acrimony between the two only deepening with time.
- Later in the hearing, Paul did address Fauci’s comments, charging him with “ignorant personal attacks,” Yahoo! News also notes.
