'If Anybody Is Lying Here, Senator, It Is You,' Fauci Tells Sen. Paul in Heated Exchange at Senate Hearing

7/21/2021 'If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,' Fauci tells Sen.
Paul in heated exchange at Senate hearing
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HEALT H AND SCIEN CE
‘If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,’ Fauci

tells Sen. Paul in heated exchange at Senate hearing
P U B L I S H E D T U E , J U L 2 0 2 0 2 1 • 1 1 : 0 7 A M E DT U P DAT E D T U E , J U L 2 0 2 0 2 1 • 1 : 4 8 P M E DT
Rich Mendez
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KEY POINTS
Dr. Anthony Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul traded barbs in a heated exchange at a
Senate hearing Tuesday about whether or not the NIH funded gain of function
research at a Wuhan lab.
As the two men talked over one another, Fauci interjected that Paul was the
one who was obfuscating the truth.
Investigations into the origins of Covid-19 by the WHO and the U.S.
government are still underway.
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Fauci to Sen. Rand Paul at hearing:
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https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/20/if-anybody-is-lying-here-senator-it-is-you-fauci-tells-sen-paul-in-heated-exchange-at-senate-hearing.html 1/7
7/21/2021 'If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,' Fauci tells Sen. Paul in heated exchange at Senate hearing
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White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci and Sen. Rand Paul traded
barbs in a heated exchange at a Senate hearing Tuesday over whether the National
Institutes of Health funded controversial research Paul claims could have
contributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Paul grilled Fauci about an NIH funded study that he says qualifies as gain of
function research, the process of altering a pathogen to make it more transmissible in
order to better predict emerging diseases. Fauci denied in previous Senate testimony
that the NIH has directly funded the research at a lab in Wuhan, China, that has
come under intense scrutiny as a possible source of the virus.
Paul, R-Ky., asked Fauci if he would like to retract that statement from the May 11
testimony, “Fauci, as you are aware it is a crime to lie to Congress.”
In the May hearing, Paul pressed Fauci on NIH funding for gain of function research
at the Wuhan lab. In his testimony at that hearing, Fauci replied that the NIH “has
not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of
Virology.”
Fauci, who oversees several NIH research programs as director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he wouldn’t retract his previous
statement from the May hearing. “I have not lied before Congress. I have never lied.
Certainly not before Congress. Case closed,” Fauci said.
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a Senate Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 20,
2021.
Stefani Reynolds | Reuters
He said the study Paul was referring to does not constitute gain of function research.
“Sen. Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I would
like to say that officially. You do not know what you are talking about,” Fauci said.
Paul countered: “No one is saying those viruses caused the pandemic. What we’re
alleging is that gain of function research was done in that lab and NIH funded it. You
can’t get away from it, it meets your definition and you are obfuscating the truth.”
The NIH did fund a nonprofit called the EcoHealth Alliance that assisted in research
into bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan lab, but Fauci maintains that qualified experts
have examined the study “up and down” and concluded that it does not constitute
gain of function research.
As the two men talked over one another, Fauci interjected that Paul was the one who
was obfuscating the truth.
Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci responds to accusations by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as he testifies before the
Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on Capitol hill in Washington, D.C., July 20, 2021.
Applewhite | Pool via | Reuters
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“You are implying that what we did resulted in the deaths of individuals,” Fauci
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responded as he pointed his finger at Paul. “I totally resent that, and if anyone is
lying here, senator, it is you.”
CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:
‘If anybody is lying here senator, it is you,’ Fauci tells Sen.
Paul in heated exchange at Senate hearing
Delta variant now accounts for 83% of all
sequenced Covid cases in the U.S.
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Singapore tightens restrictions again as Covid cases rise
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has been under scrutiny since the beginning of the
pandemic. The World Health Organization led the first phase of an investigation at
the lab into the origins of Covid-19 and the possibility it could have leaked from that
lab.
The WHO has called for further cooperation from the Chinese government in the
investigation and said the agency was denied the raw data necessary for a more
complete probe.
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Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing at the Dirksen
Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 20, 2021.
Stefani Reynolds | Reuters
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, said last week that the
agency is asking “China to be transparent, open and cooperate, especially on the
information, raw data that we asked for at the early days of the pandemic.” He also
said there was a “premature push” to rule out the possibility of a lab leak.
In May, the Senate passed legislation that prohibits U.S. agencies from funding the
Wuhan lab, and lawmakers in the House of Representatives have a similar bill in the
works.
The House Appropriations Committee last week approved an amendment to the

National Institutes of Health funding bill for 2022 that would ban funding to the lab.
The bill would also prohibit funding for gain of function research in Russia, China,
Iran and North Korea.
Investigations into the origins of Covid-19 by the WHO and the U.S. government are
still underway. President Joe Biden set a deadline of late August for the intelligence
community to report back to the president with a clearer picture of the origins of the
virus.
At the onset of the investigation, Biden said that according to current intelligence,
both a lab leak origin and a natural origin are equally plausible.
Fauci previously said that he leans toward the idea that Covid-19 was transmitted to
humans from an animal but has expressed support for the investigations, saying in
May that he is “fully in favor of any further investigation of what went on in China.”
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7/21/2021 'If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,' Fauci tells Sen.

Paul in heated exchange at Senate hearing

‘If anybody is lying here, senator, it is you,’ Fauci

CNBC Health & Science

The House Appropriations Committee last week approved an amendment to the

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© 2021 CNBC LLC. All Rights Reserved. A Division of NBCUniversal

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