Dr. Anthony Fauci has been referred to a top Washington D.C. prosecutor for criminal perjury charges over his alleged false statements while under oath during testimony before Congress.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is demanding that D.C. U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves launches a criminal investigation into Fauci.
On Tuesday, Paul sent a letter to Graves, informing him that Fauci allegedly committed perjury during a congressional hearing in 2021.
Fauci made the false claims while insisting that Covid did not come from a Chinese lab.
“Dr. Fauci testified that ‘the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology’,” Paul said in the letter.
“In a subsequent hearing, I warned Dr. Fauci of the criminal implications of lying to Congress and offered him an opportunity to recant his previous statements,” the senator continues.
“In response, Dr. Fauci stated that he had ‘never lied before the Congress’ and ‘d[id] not retract that statement.’
“Dr. Fauci’s testimony is inconsistent with facts that have since come to light.”
JUST IN: Rand Paul has referred Dr. Fauci to top D.C. prosecutor for criminal charges for lying under oath about COVID origins.
Prosecute / Fauci.
The move by Paul comes just weeks after he submitted a criminal referral for Fauci with the DOJ.
If convicted, Fauci could face up… pic.twitter.com/igxfO1pZzR
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 9, 2023
The move comes just weeks after Sen. Paul submitted an “official criminal referral” to the Department of Justice.
Paul’s office has confirmed that the DOJ never responded.
Perjury is a federal offense that carries up to five years in prison.
“Before Congress, Dr. Fauci denied funding gain-of-function research, to the press he claims to have a dispassionate view on the lab leak hypothesis, and in private he acknowledges gain-of-function research at WIV to his colleagues,” Paul continues in the letter to Graves.
“His own colleagues have acknowledged Dr. Fauci’s inconsistency.”
“A congressional hearing, however, is not the place for a public servant to play political games – especially when the health and well-being of American citizens is on the line.”
Paul previously wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland on July 14 and July 23 calling for an investigation into whether Fauci lied under oath over his knowledge of dangerous virus research that was taking place at the Wuhan lab, in China.
In July 2021, Dr. Fauci testified how his former department “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
Gain-of-function research refers to a type of scientific investigation conducted on viruses, with the purpose of enhancing their transmissibility or virulence.
The aim is to understand how viruses evolve and potentially predict and prepare for future disease outbreaks, but also raises concerns regarding biosafety and biosecurity.
Fauci was the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) until the end of 2022 and was responsible for signing off on such research grants.
As the former head of the NIAID, Fauci presided over the allocation of taxpayer-funded grants for virus-enhancing research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology years before the pandemic began.
A federal watchdog found the NIH “did not effectively monitor” those experiments or check whether they involved pathogens with pandemic risk.
The Energy Department, FBI, and several government committees believe the virus leaked from a lab, pointing to a number of coincidences and indirect evidence.
