WASHINGTON – Anthony Fauci, one of the chief architects of the Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to appear under subpoena Wednesday in a Senate investigation that Republicans say could potentially lead to criminal charges.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has argued that Fauci, as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, misled the country about the pandemic’s origin and cared more about personal aggrandizement than being honest with the American people.
Paul, head of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also contends Fauci recorded his conflicting messages in 1,140 pages of diary entries Fauci kept about whether the pandemic erupted from a market selling tainted animals
or a Chinese government lab.
"For years I've said Fauci's public story and his private notes don't match," Paul said on social media.
Fauci has strongly denied in previous congressional testimony the allegations that he tried to cover up the theory that COVID-19 leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
In the diary, Fauci described President Donald Trump as "out of control," a "true embarrassment" and "an idiot" as he worried that the pandemic would hurt his chances for reelection in 2020.
Former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci, to shield him from criminal investigation. But Paul said if Fauci perjures himself, the pardon for past actions won’t protect him.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fauci hearing live updates: Congress zeroes in on COVID origins and response
