Whenever Sen. Rand Paul and Anthony S. Fauci appear at the same hearing together, they are bound to clash. In May, they tangled over children’s susceptibility to the coronavirus. In June, Paul attacked Fauci for not being more optimistic about the coronavirus, saying that Fauci wasn’t the “end-all” and that he should be more humble about what he didn’t know.
Through it all, Fauci has been characteristically diplomatic. But on Wednesday, he seemed to reach his breaking point.
Paul (R-Ky.), as he often has, questioned the strict mitigation measures that states across the country had undertaken. He accused Fauci of being too laudatory of New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), noting that Cuomo’s state experienced one of the worst outbreaks in the world. Continue reading.