Sen. Rand Paul attacks Dr. Anthony Fauci again; Fauci tells him: ‘You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain’

Anthony Fauci counterattacked against Rand Paul by showing pictures of a website on which Paul says to “Fire Dr. Fauci” and has nine buttons for contributions of increasing amounts. (Reuters photo)
—–

By Al Cross
Kentucky Health News

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul accused Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday of misusing his position to attack fellow scientists who disagreed with him, and Fauci counterattacked by accusing Paul of inspiring threats on Fauci’s life and making money off the pandemic. Each accused the other of acting politically.

Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was among four Biden administration witnesses at a hearing that was dominated by senators’ concern about the advice and messaging of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Paul used his time to continue his year–long attack on Fauci, who became a political punching bag in the presidency of Donald Trump.

Paul cited email traffic between Paul and Dr. Francis Collins, recently retired director of the National Institutes of Health, in which Collins called for a “quick and devastating public takedown” of claims by “fringe epidemiologists” at Harvard, Stanford and Oxford universities who had questioned the effectiveness of lockdowns early in the pandemic. Fauci replied with published examples.

Paul said that by agreeing to help Collins, Fauci was “using government resources to smear the reputations of other scientists. . . . Instead of engaging them on the merits, you and Dr. Collins sought to smear them as fringe and take them down.” He called that “cheap politics” and asked, “Do you really think it’s appropriate to use your $420,000 federal salary to attack scientists who disagree with you?”