Watch: Rand Paul Accuses Fauci of Lying To Congress About Allegedly Funding Gain-of-Function Research

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sparred with Dr. Anthony Fauci over whether the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain-of-function research in a lab in Wuhan, China.

According to The Hill, gain-of-function research is “a controversial form of study that involves boosting the infectivity and lethality of a pathogen.”

During a Senate hearing on Tuesday, Paul noted a journal article that claimed the (NIH) provided a grant to a lab in Wuhan, China that conducted research on coronaviruses to “create new viruses that are not found in nature,” which “were then shown to replicate in humans.”

He went on to claim that work “fits the definition of the research that the NIH said was subject to the pause in 2014 to 2017, a pause in funding on gain-of-function.”

He asked the infectious disease expert, “Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11 where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan?”

“Sen. Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement,” Fauci responded. “This paper that you’re referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain-of-function.”

Paul interrupted to which Fauci shot back, “Let me finish!”

However, the Kentucky senator pressed on, “You take an animal virus, and you increase its transmissibility to humans, you’re saying that’s not gain-of-function?”

“That is correct,” Fauci said.

He continued to lay into Paul, “Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that officially. You do not know what you’re talking about.”