Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said Sen. Rand Paul's repeated false accusations about him, made for political reasons, have led to death threats against him and harassment of his family.
"Senator, we are here at a committee to look at a virus now that has killed almost 900,000 people (in the U.S.)," Fauci, the federal government's top infectious diseases expert, said during a heated congressional hearing. "And you keep coming back to personal attacks on me that have absolutely no relevance to reality.
"What happens when he gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that all of a sudden that kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls, because people are lying about me."
Paul, R-Ky., has scolded Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, again and again in Senate hearings for his approach to the pandemic. Fauci consistently has pushed back, saying the Kentuckian's claims about him were inaccurate.
Their exchange Tuesday got particularly intense as Fauci drew a connection between Paul's public castigations of him and threats he has faced to his personal safety.
Fauci suggested Paul's repeated pattern of behavior in Senate committee hearings they both attend distracts people from the reality of the pandemic and stirs up dangerous sentiments against Fauci.
As an example of the threats he has experienced, Fauci referenced an...
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