Rand Paul says he’ll ask DOJ for ‘criminal referral’ after accusing Fauci of lying

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Rand Paul and Dr. Anthony Fauci are at it again.

Following Tuesday’s heated exchange during a Senate hearing over the origin of the coronavirus, Paul, the Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky, took his gripe onto FOX’s “Hannity” program with host Sean Hannity.

“I will be sending a letter to Department of Justice asking for a criminal referral because he has lied to Congress,” Paul told Hannity on the show Tuesday night. “We have scientists that were lined up by the dozens to say that the research he was funding was gain-of-function,” the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential impact in the real world, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported Tuesday that Fauci denied Paul’s accusations that Fauci is lying, and turned the claims around on the senator.

“I have not lied before Congress,” Fauci said. “I have never lied. Certainly not before Congress. Case closed ... Senator Paul, you do not know what you’re talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially. You do not know what you’re talking about.”

Paul said Fauci was “dancing around” the meaning of gain-of-function research in order to “obscure responsibility for 4 million people dying around the world from a pandemic,” but added that he wasn’t trying to lay all the blame on Fauci, according to an article on foxnews.com.