Dr. Anthony Fauci, former chief medical adviser to the president, was engaged in an "elaborate cover-up" of the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday as the GOP-led House of Representatives is set to embark on a select committee investigation into the contagion.
Paul, a medical doctor of ophthalmology who has sparred with Fauci several times in Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearings, told "The Story" that Fauci's behind-the-scenes behavior in an alleged cover-up began in January 2020. Fauci is also the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"The reason Dr. Fauci didn't want any attention drawn to this or to his funding of the lab is that ultimately he would have culpability," Paul said.
"There's a responsibility – because for years he had advocated for gain-of-function research. He's even quoted as saying in 2012, if a pandemic should occur, if a scientist should be bitten by an animal and the virus gets out of the lab, it would be worth the knowledge."
