Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Sen. Rand Paul has been attacking Dr. Anthony Fauci for months, and on Tuesday the esteemed director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) fought back.

Sen. Paul on Tuesday accused Fauci of "responsibility for four million people dying around the pandemic."

An ophthalmologist, Paul has been trying to pin the cause of the coronavirus pandemic on Fauci for months, falsely claiming the immunologist funded the Wuhan, China lab research that allegedly led to "gain of function" ability for the SARS-COVID-2 virus to become transmissible to humans, a claim Fauci and other experts deny.

On Tuesday during a congressional hearing, Fauci unleashed over a year's worth of pent-up anger on the Republican from Kentucky.

After threatening Fauci, by saying lying to Congress is a federal offense, Paul asked him if he wanted to retract his earlier statements.

"Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement. This paper that you're referring to was judged by qualified staff, up and down the chain as not being gain of function," Fauci pointedly replied.

As Paul interrupted him, Fauci demanded, "let me finish."

"Senator Paul, you do not know what you are talking about, quite frankly, and I want to say that, officially, you do not know what you are talking about," the animated Fauci declared.

Paul accused Fauci of "dancing around this," and accused him of "trying to obscure responsibility for four million people dying around the pandemic."

After a heated exchange with Paul repeatedly interrupting Fauci, Fauci laid down the law: "You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that. And if anybody was lying here, Senator. It is you."