FIREWORKS! Rand Paul Battles Fauci Over His Internal Emails Criticizing Other Scientists

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) went after Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, in which Paul accused Fauci of “using his salary to attack scientists” who disagree with him.

“Dr. Fauci, the idea that a government official like yourself would claim unilaterally to represent science and that any criticism of you would be considered a criticism of science itself is quite dangerous,” Paul said, setting the tone for his questioning of the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Paul declared that Fauci “rules by mandate” and later in his opening cited an email in which Paul claims Fauci agreed with a colleague to work to “create a quick and devastating published takedown of three prominent epidemiologists from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford.”

Fauci, denying that the email says what Paul claims it does, shot back right away, saying that Paul is “incorrect as usual.”

“You are incorrect in almost everything you say,” Fauci continued before Paul interrupted him.

“Do you think words like a conspiracy theory should be in a scientific paper?” Paul shot back in a lengthy response.

“Senator, I never used that word when I was referring to it. You are distorting virtually everything,” Fauci hit back.

“You keep distorting the truth. It is stunning,” Fauci added.

Fauci moved on from the email and took to defending his motives as driven solely by protecting the public from Covid-19, arguing that “everything I have said has been in support of the CDC guidelines. Wear a mask, get boosted…” Paul spoke over Fauci as he continued, interjecting, “ And you’ve made it coercive and done by mandate. You’ve advocated your infallible opinion by dictated by law.”

The two continued to battle back and forth with Fauci eventually accusing Paul of a continued campaign of personal attacks against him as a tool for fundraising. Fauci pointed out that the “Fire Dr. Fauci” box on Paul’s website that solicits campaign donations.

“You are making a catastrophic epidemic for your political gain!” Fauci charged, holding up a photo of Paul’s website. Paul hit back saying, “You have politically attacked your colleagues in a politically reprehensible way.”

Watch the full clip via Fox News.