Rand Paul asks: Why are taxpayers still footing the bill for this special perk for Dr. Fauci?
Fox News’ Jesse Watters revealed on Monday that the reportedly retired Dr. Anthony Fauci still had a security detail that was funded by U.S. taxpayer dollars. We know ex-presidents get this kind of treatment for life—but ex-government doctors?
“Despite his retirement from public service, U.S. tax dollars are being spent on protective details for Dr. Anthony Fauci and his family – courtesy of U.S. Marshals, documents obtained by Jesse Watters Primetime reveal,” Fox News reported.
The story noted, “The Health and Human Services was set to end its protection of Fauci, and the U.S. Marshals assumed protective responsibilities on Jan. 5, 2023, per an agreement with the National Institutes of Health.”
This finding comes after last month, when Sen. Rand Paul sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, his department’s Inspector General, and the current head of the National Institutes of Health. Paul requested "additional information regarding Dr. Fauci’s employment status and receipt of taxpayer-funded benefits."
Watters said that a source prompted him to file a Freedom of Information Act request with US Marshals about the details of Fauci’s security team.
Those details showed that Fauci even had his own taxpayer-funded limousine.
Stylin’!
“Fauci’s getting around the clock security provided by the US Marshals,” Watters said to Paul, who was a guest on his program. “That means that they station someone outside his house. Limousines take him whenever he needs to go to the airport.”
“Why, if he’s not in government anymore, would he get this?” Watters asked.
https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1681109787214323712
Sen. Paul replied by explaining how the HHS responded to his inquiry.
"HHS actually came back to us and said they haven't been paying for it since January,” Paul said of Fauci’s security. “But then we discovered that Fox did a Freedom of Information Act and a judge forced them to say that, well, while HHS wasn't directly funding it, the U.S. Marshals were funding it.”
So Fauci’s security is still taxpayer-funded despite his retirement, they just switched which agencies would foot the bill. “Somebody else is doing it and then we're reimbursing them,” Paul said federal officials told him.
"So it's a terrible example of the government lying to its representatives and to the people,” the senator noted.
Paul asked, again, why is a supposedly retired government official receiving such perks?
“But also, why is a retired guy, the only retired official I know of that gets this kind of treatment is a former president,” he said. “So I have no idea why this bureaucrat still has a limo driver, security detail, and we want to know, does he still get legal representation because I think he may need that eventually.”
Paul added, “But he’s a rich man. His wealth increased by 30% during the pandemic. I think he ought to pay for his own security detail and his own legal defense if he needs one.”
Last week, Paul asked Attorney General Merrick Garland for the Department of Justice to investigate Fauci for allegedly lying to Congress about his knowledge of US funded gain-of-function research, which some believe to be a likely origin of the COVID-19 virus.
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