Dr. Anthony Fauci was subpoenaed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to appear before the Senate for a grilling on his alleged lies to Congress – and the public – about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic that killed millions.
Paul accused Fauci of dodging a previous commitment to testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, saying he’d now subpoena him to force his appearance in July.
“We’ve been negotiating with him for material and for testimony. This has gone on for some time,” Paul told CNBC. “He slow-walked us.”
Paul accused Fauci of dodging a previous commitment to testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, saying he’d now subpoena him to force his appearance in July. CNBCThis is Paul’s first subpoena in his role as committee chairman. He gained the power last year when the panel voted to allow the chairman to issue unilateral subpoenas.
The senator has long targeted Fauci, who became the public face of the government’s response to the pandemic. He claims Fauci lied about his knowledge of US-funded coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic originated, where many think the COVID virus was made and then escaped.
Paul also vowed to examine the pardon Fauci was given by then-President Biden before Biden left office. On his final day as president, Biden issued a blanket pardon to Fauci, which he said was to protect him from potential political retribution and harassment. Fauci has never been charged with any crime.
“There will be questions about did he seek the pardon, what specific crimes did he seek, did he ever meet with President Biden,” Paul said, “but there are also questions about can you have a pardon for a nonspecific crime, can you have a vague pardon.”
Paul said he expected the infectious disease expert to challenge the subpoena in court. “I think it’s going to be a challenge to get him. I think we will have to fight him in court,” he noted but said the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases needs to testify.
Dr. Anthony Fauci is sworn in to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the COVID pandemic on June 3, 2024. Getty ImagesQuestions about Fauci’s role in the COVID pandemic resurfaced after outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a trove of files that showed that officials protected him from a whistleblower complaint alleging he lied to Congress about “gain of function” research.
During a May 11, 2021, congressional hearing, Fauci, in response to questions from Paul, denied funding research in Wuhan. “The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” he said.
But the documents show Fauci met with a group of CIA officials on June 4, 2021, weeks after that comment.
While meeting with the CIA, Fauci “highlighted the importance of getting samples from the individuals at WIV who were ill in the fall of 2019” — but pivoted away from “lab leak” origins theory to redirect focus onto a wet market in Wuhan where some early cases emerged.
The April 26, 2026, cover of The Post.
The DNI received a whistleblower complaint alleging that Fauci lied to Congress about that research — a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
The complaint, filed during the Biden administration, referred to exchanges Fauci had with Paul during the 2021 hearings on the pandemic.
“It seems likely that the whistleblower complaint was referring to exchanges Dr. Fauci had with Senator Paul on May 11 and July 20. During the May 11 hearing, Dr. Fauci stated that ‘the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute.’ During the July 20 hearing, Senator Paul confronted Dr. Fauci on the prior statement, asking him if he wanted to retract it; Dr. Fauci of course stood behind it,” the files revealed.
At that July hearing, the two men had a blistering exchange over the pandemic’s origins. Paul accused Fauci of lying in his May appearance.
“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 at the NIH never funded gain-of-function research and move on?” Paul asked.
“Sen. Paul, I have never lied before the Congress. And I do not retract that statement,” he said.
Fauci said he “resented” the implication he was responsible for the death of 4 million people.
“You do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly,” he told Paul.
“If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,” he added.
The confrontation was one of the most high-profile clashes as Congress investigated the origins of COVID.
