He said distortions by the senator have led to death threats against him. He pointed to the arrest last month of a man with an AR-15 rifle who police said was driving to D.C. with a ‘hit list.’
Anthony S. Fauci on Tuesday accused Sen. Rand Paul of raising campaign funds through false attacks that have encouraged threats to Fauci's life.
During the pandemic, Paul (R-Ky.) and other conservatives have questioned the science behind vaccines, masks and other public health measures and made conspiracy claims about Fauci's role in creating the coronavirus. Attacks on Fauci, who is President Biden's chief medical adviser on the coronavirus and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have turned increasingly hostile in recent months, and Fauci is taking steps under security protections from 2020.
On Tuesday, Fauci sought to speak uninterrupted after accusing Paul of helping run a smear campaign against three conservative academics on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee who opposed shutdown measures in 2020 . Sending coworkers a link to a Wired article debunks claims of reaching "herd immunity."
Fauci called Paul's repeated attacks a distortion of reality and attributed such lies to threats to his life. He cited the arrest of a California man in Iowa last month who police said was on his way to Washington with an AR-15 rifle and several magazines of ammunition. The man reportedly had a "hit list" that included Fauci and several others, mostly Democratic politicians.
“What happens when [Paul] goes out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue,” Fauci said, “is it all of a sudden it gets crazy, and I have… Threat to life, harassment of my family and my children make obscene calls because people are lying about me."
Fauci went on to say that some have gone beyond mere harassment. "As some of you may know, about three or four weeks ago on December 21st, a man was arrested who was going from Sacramento to a speed stop in Washington, D.C., Iowa," Fauci said. "And they asked, the police asked him where he was going, and he was going to Washington, D.C. to kill Dr. Fauci."
A federal complaint said 25-year-old Kuachua Brillian Xiong was arrested in Iowa with an AR-15 and several magazines of ammunition in his car. When questioned, the complaint said, Xiong said he intended to kill Fauci, former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, and potentially Biden. Paul is not mentioned in the complaint against Xiong. A lawyer for Xiong has indicated in court that he plans to use an insanity defense.
Meanwhile, on Paul's website, anti-Fauci lies have been put to work as a fundraising tactic, Fauci said Tuesday at a Senate hearing.
He notes that the senator's website says "Fire Dr. Fauci" and includes "a little box that says Contribute Here."
"You can do $5, $10, $20, $100," Fauci said. "So you are creating a catastrophic pandemic for your political gain."
Paul dismissed the criticism, saying that "it was disappointing for you to suggest that those who dare to question you are somehow responsible for the violent threats." Later, Paul's campaign sent out a mass fundraising email (subject line: "Fauci is hysterical") and shared more than a dozen tweets and videos of their struggle.
Paul and others have falsely claimed that Fauci is part of a conspiracy that led to the creation of the coronavirus in a Chinese laboratory. In recent months, Fauci's office has been flooded with viral claims of misinformation and that he and his family members have faced harassment and security concerns. A Fox Nation host who was a guest on Fox News recently compared Fauci to a Nazi doctor known as the "angel of death." Right-wing celebrities regularly call for their removal while hashtags like #FireFauci and #FauciKillsPuppies are trending on social media.
Paul said in a statement after the hearing that he was one of the lawmakers at a baseball practice in which Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and others were shot in 2017. Reports suggested that the shooter was a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders. (I-VT.). "Not once have I accused Senator Sanders of being responsible for the attack, and I refrain from asking Fauci the idea that his opponents are the cause of the threat," Paul said.
Mitt Romney (R-Utah) testified Tuesday in support of Fauci and other scientists in the Biden administration, criticizing Paul by name, in an otherwise heavily partisan hearing.
"I'm sure those of you who are testifying here today recognize that some of what we do is performing and some of what we do gets informed. And I do both from time to time. So I'm not just in one camp or the other in this regard," Romney said. "But I want to point out that I personally - and I believe most people in our country - respect you personally and professionally for the work you do. You are a scientist, Not politicians. Still, you are being subjected to the political whims of various political figures. And this comes at a high cost, which, unfortunately, I am afraid some people will not want to participate in helping our government. "
After the hearing, Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement that it was "disappointing and outright unacceptable that Republican senators decided to hold a hearing with the nation's leading public health experts who are not aware of conspiracy theories." And spreading lies about Dr. Fauci. How do we protect people from COVID-19."