NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) accused Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday of misleading the public about the origins of COVID-19 and lying to Congress.
Cruz denounced Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, for his public health policies during the pandemic, alleging the former health official withheld information suggesting the coronavirus first originated in Wuhan, China, a theory that has divided the intelligence community.
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The Texas senator then called for accountability, suggesting Fauci should be arrested for perjury.
“There has been no person who has done more to destroy trust in the scientific and medical community than Dr. Anthony Fauci, who told millions of Americans lies willingly, knowingly, glibly, and supremely arrogantly,” Cruz told a crowd of supporters at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. “In any sane system, he would be prosecuted for lying under oath, and he would go to jail for lying under oath to Congress.”
However, Cruz said, charges are unlikely to be pressed against the former Biden administration official. As a result, the Texas senator said he is relying on House Republicans to wield their new majority to investigate Fauci.
His comments come in response to a report the Department of Energy released over the weekend that the coronavirus likely originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China, prompting an uproar from several conservatives who voiced similar theories early on in the pandemic.
“We have a majority in the House, and I am confident that we’re going to use that majority and use it to hold Dr. Fauci and the others who lied accountable,” Cruz said. “We need to have hearings on the origins of COVID. … We need to have hearings examining and laying out the facts about how Fauci misled the American people.”
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Cruz’s comments come as high-profile conservatives meet in Washington for the annual conference this week in what has been billed as the year’s largest gathering of activists on the Right.
The conference is scheduled to run through the rest of the week, ending with a keynote speech from former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening. The event features several prominent conservatives, from GOP presidential candidates to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.