Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is set to become chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in January. He says his main mission will be to “uncover the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to The New York Post.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States in 2020, Paul has been subpoenaing and questioning heads of government agencies, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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Paul and Fauci have had several heated exchanges over the years regarding gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where Paul believes COVID-19 originated.
“There’s the preponderance of evidence now points towards this coming from the lab and what you’ve done is change the definition on your website to try to cover your ass, basically. That’s what you’ve done,” Paul told Fauci during a hearing on Nov. 4, 2021.
Paul, a medical doctor, has explained several times over the years that gain-of-function research is when medical researchers attempt to make a virus stronger than what is found in nature.
He believes COVID-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was receiving funding from Fauci’s NIH for bat coronavirus research projects.
Paul has accused Fauci of knowing that gain-of-function research was happening at the Wuhan lab with U.S. grant dollars and that Fauci should be held accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think we’re on the cusp of, really, the beginning of uncovering what happened with COVID,” Paul told The Post.
Fauci has repeatedly denied the NIH-funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci resigned from the NIH in early 2023.
This news comes as the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s COVID-19 panel held its final hearing Thursday, Nov. 14, focusing on ways to prepare for a future pandemic.