Fauci is facing a vote of contempt for refusing to answer questions about Covid in Congress.

Paul has repeatedly argued that Covid may have escaped from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology – a theory the CIA supported last year.

At the hearing, Senator Fauci publicly stated that Covid was naturally occurring, but the memos indicated that he believed the virus originated in a medical laboratory.

Republicans asked Fauci about health guidelines that changed as health officials learned more about the disease. Fauci has previously maintained his policy stances.

But several Democrats came to Fauci’s defense, including Sen. Maggie Hassan, who said the hearing was “designed to trap him.”

President Trump called Fauci “crazy” on social media.

“I have said from the beginning that the virus came from the Wuhan lab in China. Fauci disagreed very much. He is always trying to protect China,” he said.

The World Health Organization last year said the theory of a natural origin – that the virus spread from animals to humans – was “strongly supported” by the available evidence, but that the issue was “unheard of” until more data emerged.

Fauci received death threats during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Trump removed the security protection last year.

The former health official was one of the most trusted members of the U.S. government when scientists were trying to learn as much about the virus as possible as they responded to the outbreak.

He wasn’t always at odds with Trump. In the year In 2021, Trump gave Fauci a presidential commendation for his work on the US Covid vaccine project, known as Operation Warp Speed.