(Washington) The Dr Anthony Fauci, White House adviser on COVID-19, accused a Republican senator on Tuesday of encouraging the “deranged” threatening him with death, by maintaining lies about him.
Posted at 3:24 p.m.
New battle between Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and the immunologist, who have clashed in the past, took place during a hearing of a US Senate committee on pandemic management .
“More people have died under President Biden than under President Trump. You are responsible, you are the architect of the government’s response, and today 800,000 people have died ”from COVID-19 in the country, the senator said.
Mr. Fauci, director of the American National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIAID), responded by taking part in the commission, during a sequence broadcast live on CNN.
What happens when he accuses me of things that are completely wrong is all of a sudden it stirs up the deranged, and I have death threats hanging over me, my family is harassed and my kids are getting shocking phone calls.
Dr Anthony Fauci
He recalled that at the end of December, a man was arrested on his way from California to the American capital, armed with a semi-automatic rifle and ammunition.
PHOTO GREG NASH, FRANCE-PRESSE AGENCY
Republican Senator Rand Paul questioning Dr.Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, during a Senate health committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on January 11, 2022.
“In Washington to kill the Dr Fauci “
“The police arrested him and asked him where he was going, and he was going to Washington to kill the Dr Fauci. […] Because he thinks maybe I’m killing people, ”said the 81-year-old scientist.
He then showed an image from Rand Paul’s website, bearing the slogan “Send the Dr Fauci ”next to the latter’s face, and calling on the public to donate money to support the senator’s election campaign.
“You are shaping a catastrophic epidemic for your political game,” accused Anthony Fauci.
These very tense exchanges reflect a strong politicization of the pandemic in the United States, where divisions have continued to widen, particularly concerning preventive measures, such as masks or vaccines.