Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he thinks former White House chief medial adviser Anthony Fauci deserves jail time.
“And do you believe that Anthony Fauci belongs in jail?” Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Paul.
“Without question,” the senator responded.
Paul has a fiery history with Fauci, brimming from disagreements around the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic to vaccinations. He has also argued that the former infectious diseases doctor lied to Congress by flip-flopping on where the COVID virus began in public and in private.
“We now have proof in Anthony Fauci’s own words, we have his emails,” Paul said in his interview with Hannity.
“In public he’s saying, ‘Oh, if you say it came from the lab, you’re a conspiracy theorist, you’re crazy, it’s a fringe theory,'” he continued. “But in private, he’s saying … ‘We’re very concerned because the virus appears to be manipulated. And we’re also very concerned because we know they’re doing gain of function research in Wuhan.’”
He said that is why he referred him to Attorney General Merrick Garland — whom Paul referred to as “the most partisan attorney general” in history. He accused Garland of bucking his responsibility in order to protect Fauci.
Fauci responded to calls in March for his prosecution for the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, saying “[t]here’s no response to that craziness.”
“I mean, prosecute me for what? What are they talking about? I mean, I wish I could figure out what the heck they were talking about. I think they’re just going off the deep end,” Fauci said. “It doesn’t make any sense to say something like that and it actually is irresponsible.”
Paul outlines his beliefs in his upcoming book: “Deception: The Great Covid Cover-Up,” which is expected to be released next week. When talking to Hannity, the senator teased that more action could come against Fauci.
“We deserve to know what happened,” he said.
“I think the book will go a long way to convincing the rest of America that this man was a traitor to his country,” Paul later added about Fauci.