Fauci Unloads on Rand Paul at Hearing

There's no love lost between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul, and that became abundantly clear as Fauci testified Tuesday before a Senate panel on the COVID crisis. During the Senate health committee hearing, Paul accused Fauci of mishandling the US epidemic in general and working to "smear" the reputations of scientists who disagree with him, reports Axios. At one point, Fauci asked to be able to speak without being interrupted, notes the Washington Post. He used the opportunity to lay into Paul and, among other things, accuse the senator of trying to profit from the pandemic.

• “Before he was accusing me of being responsible for the death of five—4 to 5 million people, which is really irresponsible. … 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 life—threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me."

• “Now, you know, I guess you could say, ‘Well, that’s the way it goes. I can take the hit,'" continued Fauci. "Well, it makes a difference because, as some of you may know, just about three or four weeks ago, on December 21st, a person was arrested who was on their way from Sacramento to Washington, D.C., at a speed stop in Iowa. And they asked, the police asked him where he was going, and he was going to Washington, DC, to kill Dr. Fauci." (He's referring to this incident.)
• “So I ask myself, why would senator 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 five dollars. Ten dollars. Twenty dollars. A hundred dollars. So you are (using) a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain.”

(More Anthony Fauci stories.)