Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday the Justice Departmentβs refusing his requests for a perjury investigation into former federal health official Dr. Anthony Fauci is proof of a two-tiered justice system following a Senate hearing on the origins of COVID-19.Β
Paul, R-Ky., told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that itβs βdisappointingβ to see no action taken almost three years after he began demanding such a probe. His accusations stem from the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases directorβs testimony to Congress about U.S.-funded virus research in China, a central topic of Tuesdayβs hearing.Β
Fauci testified in May 2021 that his agency never funded risky βgain-of-functionβ experiments at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, but Paul has repeatedly highlighted records and emails suggesting otherwise.Β
βIf you happened to walk in the Capitol on Jan. 6, [2021], you might get 10 years in prison,β Paul said. βBut if youβre responsible for funding research that led to a pandemic and killed 15 million people, and then you lied about it to Congress, then nothing happens to you.β
Paul filed a criminal referral against Fauci in July 2021 and again in July 2023 over the perjury claims. The Kentucky lawmaker told The Daily Signal that the lack of a response from federal prosecutors indicates America has βtwo standards of justice.β
Paul added: βIn some ways, Iβm very disappointed, but itβs not that I donβt expect it.β The senator blamed President Joe Bidenβs attorney general, Merrick Garland, whom he said is βprobably the most partisan attorney general in our history.β
Fauci did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Paulβs allegations.Β
Paul made the remarks shortly after virology experts testified to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The committeeβs four witnesses gave varying narratives on whether COVID-19 was the result of a Wuhan lab accident or if it arose naturally among animals.Β
Paul said in an opening statement that Fauci and his βinner circleβ acknowledged the likelihood of a lab leak in private messages that were released through litigation. βDespite these private doubts, publicly, these so-called experts and their allies were dismissing the lab-leak theory as a conspiracy,β he said.Β
Paul also told The Daily Signal last month that Fauci βcould be indictedβ for deleting emails about COVID-19βs origins to circumvent public records law.Β
Fauci has claimed the U.S.-funded research suspected to have caused the leak, conducted through the EcoHealth Alliance, was not technically the βgain-of-functionβ research lawmakers have asked him about. He testified to a House panel earlier this month that the experiments didnβt fit βthe regulatory and operative definition.βΒ
That contradicted previous testimony from National Institutes of Health Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak, who said Fauciβs agency did, in fact, fund gain-of-function experiments at the high-risk Wuhan lab before the COVID-19 pandemic.
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