Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he and his family received death threats and a suspicious package over the senator’s clashes with Dr. Anthony Fauci over the origins of COVID-19.
“This week, I’ve had five death threats just for being outspoken on it,” Paul said according to The Hill. “I don’t know what the world’s coming to, you can’t ask honest, difficult questions that in the end have proved out that Dr. Fauci was not being honest with us, but as a repercussion, my family had white powder sent to our house, and five death threats phoned in.”
The comment came weeks after the FBI and U.S. Capitol Police announced they were investigating the suspicious package filled with white powder sent to the senator’s home.
“I’ll finish what your neighbor started you motherf*****,” a letter in the package read. The package also contained an image of Paul with bandages and a gun to his head.
The letter came after Paul’s assessment of how Fauci handled the pandemic’s outbreak, such as Fauci’s downplaying that the virus could have leaked out of a lab in China and his personal incredulity on mask-wearing. A string of emails pointed that Fauci himself didn’t believe that masks were a preventable measure against COVID-19.
“The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through the material. It might, however, provide some slight benefit in keep out gross droplets if someone coughs or sneezes on you. I do not recommend that you wear a mask, particularly since you are going to a vey low risk location.” Fauci wrote according to an email dump acquired by Buzzfeed News.
During a hearing with Paul, Fauci exchanged divergent points of view with the senator over the efficacy of wearing a mask. Paul stated once you have immunity wearing a mask is just “theater.” But Fauci disagreed.
“Let me just state for the record masks are not theater,” Fauci said according to Reuters. “Masks are protective.”
