Fauci Summoned to Testify — Again. Rand Paul Refuses to Let It Go

No member of Congress appears more determined to see Dr. Anthony Fauci get what he deserves than Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.). On Monday, Paul subpoenaed the face of America’s disastrous Covid-19 response.  

According to Paul, Fauci had agreed to testify before Congress, but then changed his mind. “Last week, Anthony Fauci notified us he will NOT voluntarily testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, even though he had previously agreed to do so,” Paul wrote on his X account on Monday. “Therefore, today I have issued a subpoena requiring him to testify before the Committee, in public, next month.”

The next day, Paul published a post suggesting Fauci will indeed appear before Congress. Paul:

For six months, I have been negotiating with Anthony Fauci’s lawyers over a date to testify before my Homeland Security Committee. He finally agreed to appear this month. Then he backed out. So I subpoenaed him. He will testify in July.

Gain-of-function Games

Paul was among the first to insist that Fauci, as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), funded risky gain-of-function experiments in China. Fauci denied doing so, famously telling the senator, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Now, Paul wants to know why Fauci funded gain-of-function research and then lied to Congress that he didn’t. He wants to know why Fauci asked underlings to destroy emails that belong to the public. And he wants to know why Fauci was pardoned by the Biden administration. “The American people deserve answers, and I am going to make sure they get them during our hearing next month,” Paul said Tuesday.

Paul has been among the loudest lawmakers to raise concerns about U.S.-funded medical experiments overseas. Such experiments in Wuhan, China, are widely believed to be responsible for Covid-19. Earlier this month, outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard dropped a stunning report alleging the United States has funded more than 120 biolabs around the world.

Paul used the moment to take a victory lap and call for transparency. “For years, I raised alarms about dangerous gain-of-function research being farmed out to foreign countries, and I was told it was a conspiracy theory. Now, declassified documents show that the U.S. funded over 120 biolabs across more than 30 countries,” he said on X. “Some of this research was conducted overseas precisely because scientists knew it would face scrutiny on American soil. I’m calling for a presidential commission of scientists to review all gain-of-function research going forward. We’re going lab by lab and pathogen by pathogen until the American people know the full truth.”

Other Charges

Fauci cleared a big hurdle last month. The five-year statute of limitations to face charges for allegedly lying to Congress about funding gain-of-function research expired. But he’s not out of the woods completely. The Trump administration is reportedly trying to figure out ways to hold Fauci accountable. As the The New York Post reported, Fauci “could face other potential charges for lesser-known contested testimony, or for alleged conduct stretching closer to the present day, such as for conspiracy, insiders said, even though his best-known alleged crime went uncharged.”

Included in these lesser charges is the aforementioned allegation that Fauci directed underlings to destroy records. “We know there are other charges besides just lying to Congress,” Paul told Newsmax in May. “There’s destroying records, there’s telling others to destroy records”

But the administration will also have to figure out a way around Fauci’s pardon, granted to him by Biden’s autopen. A Trump administration official told The Post last month that they’re looking for ways to do just that:

Accountability for pandemic-era misconduct is non-negotiable. This administration is aggressively exploring every legal avenue to hold every possible individual, entity, organization, and government official accountable for COVID-era wrongdoing.

Paul has referred Fauci to the Justice Department three times. If Fauci does indeed receive justice, it will serve as a warning to all the other medical mafiosos out there who are planning similar campaigns of medical tyranny.