FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 10, 2023
Contact: Press_Paul@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343
After Silence from DOJ Dr. Rand Paul Asks U.S. Attorney to Investigate Anthony Fauci
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Recently, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., Matthew Graves, requesting his office open an investigation into testimony made to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on May 11, 2021, by Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
“I warned Dr. Fauci of the criminal implications of lying to Congress and offered him an opportunity to recant his previous statement,” Dr. Paul wrote in the letter. “Dr. Fauci’s testimony is inconsistent with facts that have since come to light.”
“Before Congress, Dr. Fauci denied funding gain-of-function research, to the press he claims to have a dispassionate view on the lab leak hypothesis, and in private he acknowledges gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to his colleagues. His own colleagues have acknowledged Dr. Fauci’s inconsistency. A congressional hearing, however, is not the place for a public servant to play political games – especially when the health and well-being of American citizens is on the line,” Dr. Paul continued in the letter.
Dr. Paul’s request is consistent with 18 U.S.C. § 1001 whoever “makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” as part of “any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate” is subject to criminal fines and imprisonment of up to five years.
Background:
On July 14, 2023, Dr. Paul reiterated his previous request from July 21, 2021 for the United States Department of Justice to open an investigation into testimony made by Dr. Fauci to the Senate’s HELP Committee on May 11, 2021. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s inaction has led to another request for accountability.
The National Institutes of Health’s (NIH), NIAID funds many scientific projects both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Dr. Fauci testified that “the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Recently, the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a report including Dr. Fauci’s emails acknowledging concerns that COVID-19 may have been genetically engineered because gain-of-function research was taking place in Wuhan before the pandemic.
In a report published on June 14, 2023, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Wuhan University received NIH funding.
These pieces of evidence contradict Dr. Fauci’s previous statements and require accountability under the law.
You can read the full letter to the U.S. Attorney HERE.
You can learn more about Dr. Paul’s efforts HERE.
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