Washington, D.C. – Sen. Rand Paul issued a subpoena requiring Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify publicly before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee next month, escalating a long-running dispute over COVID-19 origins and federal research funding.
Paul, the committee’s Republican chairman, said Fauci had previously agreed to testify voluntarily but later declined. The subpoena is Paul’s first since becoming chair and gaining unilateral subpoena power.
Paul has repeatedly accused Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of misleading Congress about U.S.-funded virus research and helping dismiss the lab-leak theory early in the pandemic. Fauci has denied lying to Congress and has long said the origins of COVID-19 remain uncertain.
The lab-leak theory remains debated. Some U.S. agencies have assessed that a laboratory origin is plausible, while many scientists and public health officials say a natural spillover remains possible.
The hearing could revive partisan conflict over pandemic policy, federal transparency, gain-of-function research, and the government’s handling of early COVID information.
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