Dr. Anthony Fauci, the retired scientist and longtime face of the government’s infectious disease response, will testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee on Wednesday. This appearance marks the latest showdown with Sen. Rand Paul, the committee’s chairman, who has long sought to blame the Covid pandemic and shortcomings of the US response on Fauci.

Background

Fauci has testified before Congress roughly 250 times over the course of his career to discuss threats such as the HIV/AIDS crisis and Ebola. However, he did not agree to testify willingly this time, and was subpoenaed by Sen. Paul in June. Fauci’s lawyers cited his past clashes with Paul and the senator’s efforts to indict him as the reason for his initial decline to appear voluntarily.

The committee released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci’s personal diary from 2019 to 2022 ahead of the hearing. The diary entries document Fauci’s growing concerns about the coronavirus threat, frustrations with the government response, and conflicting relationships with both Trump and Biden administration officials.

Expected Clash

Sen. Paul has accused Fauci of greenlighting controversial research to make viruses more contagious and virulent, known as gain-of-function research. Fauci has repeatedly denied this, and an analysis of viruses used in the Wuhan lab indicates that it is molecularly impossible for the viruses under the auspices of the NIH grant to have been manipulated into or evolved into SARS-Cov-2.

Despite new access to Fauci’s diary, Sen. Paul and Wisconsin GOP Sen. Ron Johnson have sought to manage expectations that the hearing will produce any major new developments. Fauci’s testimony is expected to be combative, with Sen. Paul potentially renewing calls for perjury charges based on Fauci’s remarks during the hearing.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.