Republican Sen. Rand Paul claimed their former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Dr. Anthony Fauci, “orchestrated” a cover-up at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During a broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” the Kentucky Republican said Fauci was aware of evidence that tied him to “dangerous” research on the virus.
“What about Anthony Fauci’s accountability, and is the media complicit?” host Maria Bartiromo asked.
“What we know is, from the very first days of the pandemic in January 2020, that Anthony Fauci orchestrated an elaborate cover-up,” Rand Paul said.
“He knew there was a problem. At 3:00 in the morning, he was emailing somebody on January 31. And that person was head of the committee that was supposed to review dangerous research, the P3CO committee, the potential pandemic pathogens,” Paul said.
“It was supposed to look at this dangerous research. But Fauci allowed it to go around that.”
“So he knew from the very beginning not only was he funding the Wuhan research, but he was going around the regulatory apparatus to let it happen, even though the rules said it shouldn’t have happened without more scrutiny,” he continued.
“So he knew this from the beginning, and it was an active cover-up. He actively got papers placed that were not valid papers into large scientific journals,” Paul added.
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“So, yes, it was a cover-up from the very beginning, but a real judgment error. And this is a man, Anthony Fauci, who said in 2012 that this kind of research to create new viruses was so important that, even if a pandemic should take place, it’d be worth the knowledge.”
“I think there are several million people, particularly a million Americans, who would question whether that was good judgment or not,” Paul continued.
“So whether or not he was some — poor judgment or not, it was an incredibly bad decision to fund this research.”
Earlier this year, Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan announced he was “building the case” to issue criminal referrals against Fauci for lying to Congress about ‘gain of function.’
The news came on the heels of two U.S. intelligence agencies admitting the virus likely leaked from a lab.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), where Fauci has been a noted member since 1984, also sent a $3.7 million grant to the U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance to study bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
“I would, frankly, prefer just to have Dr. Fauci come back in and take another round of questions here, but we’re building the case. You know, like, we had Dr. Redfield testify last week; Chairman Wenstrup did. I thought he was — I thought he was great. As were the other witnesses that were brought in,” Jordan said at the time.
READ MORE: Rand Paul Accuses Fauci of Killing 7M People: He ‘Won’t Get Away’
