Dr. Anthony Fauci is accusing Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) of politicizing the COVID-19 pandemic and attacking him to rake in campaign contributions.
During a hearing on Tuesday, Paul asked, “Do you really think it’s appropriate to use your $420,000 salary to attack scientists that disagree with you?”
The Kentucky senator’s question referred to a report that claimed Fauci and National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins tried to discredit a paper that advocated against lockdowns in response to the coronavirus.
Fauci responded, “I think in usual fashion, senator, you are distorting everything about me.”
Paul appeared to suggest that Fauci got Wired to write a report discrediting the alternative response to the virus at the urging of Collins.
“That’s not what went on. There you go again, you just do the same thing every hearing,” Fauci fired back. “You’re absolutely incorrect. As usual, senator, you’re incorrect.”
Watch the video below:
“In usual fashion, Senator, you are distorting everything about me.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci after Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) asks him about one of his emails. “There you go again, you just do the same thing every hearing.”
— The Recount (@therecount) January 11, 2022
“You are absolutely incorrect … as usual.” pic.twitter.com/An6kgOctS9
He continued, “Senator, we are here at a committee [hearing] to look at a virus now that has killed almost 900,000 people. And the purpose of the [hearing] was to try and get things out, how we can help the American public. And you keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality.”
Paul interjected to press Fauci on whether he believes his recommendations for how to respond to the virus have been a “great success” as he noted that more Americans died in 2021 than in 2020.
Fauci responded, “This happens all the time. You personally attack me and with absolutely not a shred of evidence of anything you say…He’s doing this for political reasons.”
When Paul tried to interrupt, Fauci shot back, “You don’t want me to finish. You know what I’m going to say.”
Dr. Fauci has had it with Sen. Rand Paul: ‘Senator, we are here … to look at a virus now that has killed almost 900,000 people … and you keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality’ pic.twitter.com/DaLY10WpKI
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) January 11, 2022
He continued, “As some of you may know…on Dec. 21, a person was arrested who was on their way from Sacramento to Washington, D.C., at a speed stop in Iowa. And the police asked him where he was going, and he was going to Washington, D.C., to kill Dr. Fauci. And they found in his car an AR-15 and multiple magazines of ammunition because he thinks that maybe I’m killing people.”
“So I asked myself, why would the 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 $5, $10, $20, $100. So you are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain,” Fauci added.
As he spoke, Fauci held up a printout from Paul’s website that featured his face with a banner that read “Fire Dr. Fauci.”
WATCH: Dr. Fauci talks about how a man was arrested for treating to kill him.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 11, 2022
He blames it on Rand Paul having a "Fire Fauci" banner on his website, which he pulls out a printed copy of. pic.twitter.com/QbS0ov23eB
Paul and Fauci have regularly sparred during Senate hearings, as IJR reported.