(NewsNation) — Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has officially referred Dr. Anthony Fauci and the origins of the COVID-19 virus to the Department of Justice for a criminal investigation.
In his ongoing feud with Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, Paul cites an unredacted email from February 2020 where Fauci mentions a phone call with “highly credible scientists.”
In the email, Fauci stated that these scientists were concerned about mutations in the virus that appeared to be intentionally inserted and unlikely to have evolved naturally in bats. Fauci also mentioned that scientists at Wuhan University were known to be conducting gain-of-function experiments on bat viruses.
Paul pointed out that this directly contradicts Fauci’s denial of funding any gain-of-function research during a committee hearing in July 2021.
A recent report from the Government Accountability Office reveals that the Wuhan Institute of Virology did receive funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), although it is unclear if this funding is related to the research Paul is referring to or the origins of COVID.
According to Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, NIH funding is closely monitored and tracked. He believes that cover-ups would be difficult to sustain due to the scrutiny of grants and expenditure reports.
NewsNation reached out to Dr. Fauci for comment, but he declined.