Sen. Ted Cruz addressed Dr. Anthony Fauci's attack on him after the Texas Republican suggested he be investigated for allegedly making false statements before Congress.
"Anybody who spins lies and threatens and all that theater that goes on with some of the investigations and the congressional committees and the Rand Pauls and all that other nonsense, that’s noise, Margaret, that’s noise," the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told CBS News's Margaret Brennan.
Specifically responding to Cruz's argument that he should face prosecution by the Department of Justice, Fauci laughed it off.
"Yeah, I have to laugh at that," he said. "I should be prosecuted? What happened on Jan. 6, senator?"
Fauci just called for Ted Cruz to be investigated for Jan 6 pic.twitter.com/oSS14gE8Gx
— Jack Posobiec ?? (@JackPosobiec) November 28, 2021
On Twitter, the Texas Republican didn't hold back in responding.
"Fauci is an unelected technocrat who has distorted science and facts in order to exercise authoritarian control over millions of Americans. He lives in a liberal world where his smug 'I REPRESENT science' attitude is praised," Cruz said.
"Here are the facts: (1) On May 11, Fauci testified before a Senate Committee that 'the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.'
"(2) On October 20, NIH wrote they funded an experiment at the Wuhan lab testing if 'spike proteins from naturally occurring bat coronaviruses circulating in China were capable of binding to the human ACE2 receptor in a mouse model.' That is gain of function research.
"(3) Fauci's statement and the NIH's October 20 letter cannot both be true. The statements are directly contradictory. (4) 18 USC 1001 makes it felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison, to lie to Congress.
"No amount of ad hominem insults parroting Democrat talking points will get Fauci out of this contradiction," Cruz concluded. "Fauci either needs to address the substance—in detail, with specific factual corroboration—or DOJ should consider prosecuting him for making false statements to Congress."
(1) On May 11, Fauci testified before a Senate Committee that “the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 28, 2021
(3) Fauci’s statement and the NIH’s October 20 letter cannot both be true. The statements are directly contradictory.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 28, 2021
(4) 18 USC 1001 makes it felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison, to lie to Congress.
No amount of ad hominem insults parroting Democrat talking points will get Fauci out of this contradiction.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 28, 2021
Fauci either needs to address the substance—in detail, with specific factual corroboration—or DOJ should consider prosecuting him for making false statements to Congress.