WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans, and particularly Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have long been critical of the government’s actions during the Covid-19 pandemic — which began during the first Trump administration — and have sought to pin blame on those they believe played some role in the virus’s outbreak and what they describe as a subsequent coverup of the pandemic’s origins.
On Wednesday, they will again get another chance to explore the past when Anthony Fauci, the nation’s former top infectious disease expert, testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee following a subpoena issued by Paul.
It may also open up an opportunity for Paul to revisit his repeated calls for Fauci to be imprisoned.
Paul and Fauci have long had a contentious relationship, with Paul accusing Fauci of misleading the public about U.S. funding of research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China; Wuhan is where the virus was initially reported to be circulating.
There is no proven link between the research the Wuhan lab was doing on coronaviruses and the start of the pandemic, though Fauci has long said a lab leak cannot be ruled out based on available evidence. The White House updated an official Covid website last year to claim that the virus leaked from a lab funded by the National Institutes of Health, which Trump administration officials also claim Fauci and others hid from the public.
