WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, angrily accused a senator Tuesday of making false accusations that are leading to threats against him — all to raise political cash.
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has repeatedly said Fauci lies about the pandemic and in a hearing Tuesday also claimed that he tried to “take down” some scientists who disagreed with him.
Paul and other conservative critics have focused their ire at how the pandemic is being handled on Fauci, the National Institutes of Health infectious disease chief who also is President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser. Fauci has needed increased security since 2020 because of threats and harassment against him and his family.
Keep scrolling for photos of Dr. Fauci through the years
Tuesday, Fauci expressed frustration that this far into the pandemic the senator still “accuses me of things that are completely untrue” and “kindles the crazies out there.”
Fauci: Paul ‘kindles the crazies’ who threaten him
He pointed to the arrest last month of a California man who was stopped for speeding in Iowa and told a sheriff’s deputy he was on the way to the nation’s capital to kill a list of people in power — including Fauci. Court documents show the man, Kuachua Brillion Xiong of Sacramento, had an AR-15 style rifle, ammunition and body armor in the car.
Fauci said Paul’s website has a “fire Dr. Fauci” page and includes a call for political contributions ranging from $5 to $100.
He accused Paul of using the pandemic “for your political gain,” he said.
The feud overshadowed a hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee designed to examine if policy changes are needed while the U.S. is battling the hugely contagious omicron variant.
Greg Nash/Pool via AP
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and chief medical adviser to the president, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to COVID-19 and new emerging variants, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022 on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Among the chief complaints of Republicans and Democrats alike is a continuing lack of tests to make it easier for people to tell if they have COVID-19 so they can stay home and not spread it.
“I just say to all of you right now, testing’s broken,” said an exasperated Sen. Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, the committee’s ranking member.
Still, Burr and several other lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also thanked Fauci for his work to fight the pandemic.
But later in Tuesday’s hearing, Fauci lost his temper when Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, accused him of hiding financial disclosure forms required of public officials.
“You’re so misinformed that it’s extraordinary,” Fauci responded, saying those documents are publicly available upon request. As the exchange ended, Fauci could be heard muttering off-camera, “What a moron.”
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Health, testifies during a hearing on Capitol Hill Iin Washington in this April 4, 2003, file photo. Weeks before President Bush announced a plan in June 2002 to protect African babies from AIDS, top U.S. health officials were warned that research on a key drug was flawed and may have underreported thousands of severe reactions including deaths, government documents show. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, a pioneering AIDS researcher and scientific leader, speaks at the 2003 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards ceremony held on Ellis Island, N.J., Thursday, April 10, 2003. He was one of five recipients who can trace their family roots through Ellis Island were chosen for their contributions to the American experience. (AP Photo / Stuart Ramson)
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Anthony Fauci, left, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks near Swiss Giuseppe Pantaleo, right, chairman of the AIDS Vaccine 04 conference and professor at Lausanne University Hospital, CHUV, during a press conference after the opening of the AIDS Vaccine 04 conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, Monday, Aug. 30, 2004. (AP Photo/Keystone, Laurent Gillieron)
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Actress Ashley Judd, who is also global ambassador for YouthAIDS, an organization dedicated to educating and protecting young people from HIV/AIDS, talks with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, prior to giving their testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 23, 2005. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, center, flanked by Dr. James LeDuc, director, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, left, and Dr. Bruce Gellin, director, National Vaccine Planning Office, Department of Health and Humans Services, testifies on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 30, 2005, before the House Government Reform Committee hearing on "The Next Flu Pandemic: Evaluating U.S. Readiness." (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, before the The House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing to examine the government's response to contain the disease and whether America's hospitals and health care workers are adequately prepared for Ebola patients. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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Patient Nina Pham is hugged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outside of National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Pham, the first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is free of the virus. The 26-year-old Pham arrived last week at the NIH Clinical Center. She had been flown there from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, testifies before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing looking into the effectiveness of vaccines in the wake of a measles outbreak and the exceptionally severe flu season, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, February 3, 2015. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks at the Economic Club of Washington on various topics including the Zika virus, Friday, Jan. 29, 2016, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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From left, CDC Director Tom Frieden, NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, and USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health Ariel Pablos-Mendez, take a break on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016, from giving their testimony before the House Foreign Affairs, Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations Subcommittee and Western Hemisphere subcommittee joint hearing on: 'The Global Zika Epidemic.' (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH/NIAID, right, and Dr. Anne Schuchat, Principal Deputy Director of the CDC, participate in a briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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President Barack Obama speaks during a briefing on the ongoing response to the Zika virus with members of his public health team, Friday, July 1, 2016, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Joining Obama are Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Tom Frieden, center, and Director of NIH/NIAID Dr. Anthony Fauci, right. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, works at his desk in his office at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, talks to reporters before the start of a closed all-senators briefing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci arrives to testify before a House Commerce subcommittee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, during a hearing on the budget and coronavirus. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
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Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, takes a phone call outside a room on Capitol Hill where he and others from the president's coronavirus task force briefed members of the House of Representatives on the outbreak of the new respiratory virus sweeping the globe, in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, accompanied by President Donald Trump, speaks about the coronavirus during a news conference in the press briefing room at the White House, Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci closes his eyes as he appears before a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on the coronavirus on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, speaks with President Donald Trump at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, March 3, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Monday, March, 9, 2020, about the coronavirus outbreak as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, Vice President Mike Pence, and Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, listen. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before a House Oversight Committee hearing on preparedness for and response to the coronavirus outbreak on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, center, listens during a news conference about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press briefing with the coronavirus task force, in the Brady press briefing room at the White House, Monday, March 16, 2020, in Washington, as President Donald Trump and U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams listen. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, left, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, walks past President Donald Trump after answering a question during a coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sunday, March 29, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sits outside the White House, Sunday, April 5, 2020, in Washington. Fauci said Sunday that he hoped the pace of new infections would plateau soon, but that the virus is unlikely to be completely eradicated this year. That means the U.S. could see a resurgence during the next flu season, he said. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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In this April 9, 2020, file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appears at a news conference about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stands before President Donald Trump arrives to speak about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House, Monday, April 13, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks remotely during a virtual Senate Committee for Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing, Tuesday, May 12, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Win McNamee/Pool via AP)
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Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci wears a face mask as he waits to testify before a House Committee on Energy and Commerce on the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, June 23, 2020. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
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Ceremonial first pitch is thrown by Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases before the start of the during the first inning of an opening day baseball game between the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals at Nationals Park, Thursday, July 23, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before a House Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus crisis, Friday, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gestures after receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, prepares to receive his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)
