Tell us something we don’t know, Fauci.
White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci told Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul that he didn’t know what he was talking about during a Senate hearing today.
Paul accused the National Institutes of Health of funding a study that he claimed contributed to the spread of COVID-19. Fauci accused Paul of lying.
Here, let’s see his delicious response in full:
“Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I would like to say that officially,” said Fauci, with a sassy head shake. “You do not know what you are talking about.”
Specifically, Paul accused the NIH of funding a study at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China that explored gain of function research, a type of medical research that involves altering diseases to make them more transmissible. It’s meant to be used to understand “the genetic makeup of viruses and the specifics of virus-host interaction,” according to the National Academy of Sciences, but it is controversial.
At a previous Senate appearance in May, Fauci had denied that the NIH funded such a study.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Paul asked Fauci if he would like to retract his previous statement.
Fauci said, “I have never lied before the Congress.”
After Fauci told Paul that he — (let’s hear it one more time!) — didn’t know what he was talking about, Paul said, “No one is saying those viruses caused the pandemic. What we’re alleging is that gain of function research was done in that lab and NIH funded it. You can’t get away from it, it meets your definition and you are obfuscating the truth.”
“Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about.”
— Dr. Fauci after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) accuses him of lying to Congress about gain-of-function research in Wuhan lab. pic.twitter.com/aGhn3ua9r0
— The Recount (@therecount) July 20, 2021
Fauci told Paul that the study he was referencing had been thoroughly reviewed by experts who determined that it didn’t qualify as gain of function research.
In a statement released in May, the NIH acknowledged that it has funded grants to “learn more about viruses lurking in bats and other mammals that have the potential to spill over to humans and cause widespread disease.” But, the NIH denied that it had ever approved any grant to support gain of function research “on coronaviruses that would have increased their transmissibility or lethality for humans.”
Fauci finally told Paul that he is the one who is lying.
“You are implying that what we did resulted in the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that, and if anyone is lying here, senator, it is you.”
This article appears in July 14, 2021.