Anthony Fauci, Senator Rand Paul in heated clash over coronavirus origins
- Dr Anthony Fauci and Republican Senator Rand Paul spar in Senate hearing on Capitol Hill
- Paul accused Fauci of lying about role of research at Chinese lab he said the US funded
In a fiery confrontation rarely seen in the normally sober hearing rooms of Congress, Paul on Tuesday accused Fauci of “obfuscating the truth” about a government agency funding controversial research at China’s specialised laboratory at the centre of theories about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.
That research is known as gain-of-function, in which scientists work to increase the transmissibility and virulence of microorganisms in order to better predict emerging infectious diseases.
“Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly – and I want to say that officially,” Fauci said in his fiercest outburst on Capitol Hill in scores of hearings attended since the start of the crisis more than 18 months ago.
“If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,” Fauci steamed, pointing a forefinger at the lawmaker from Kentucky.