Fauci's biggest critics hint at the reason for his December retirement: 'trying to get out of Dodge'

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Two of Dr. Anthony Fauci's biggest critics are sounding off on his announced retirement, vowing that him leaving his government position wouldn't stop investigations into his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as well as his involvement in research funding at the Wuhan lab that many say is where the virus originated.

In interviews with Fox News Digital, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., expressed no surprise at Fauci's Monday announcement that he would retire in December, and argued he was making the intentional decision to leave after the November midterm elections in which Republicans hope to win control of Congress.

"I think it's no coincidence that he's decided to step down right after the election," Paul said. "I think he, like many people, perceive that the Republicans will take over at least one house of Congress and that there will be an investigation into his wrongdoing." 

"I think that the pandemic and the origin of the pandemic should be explored. It hasn't been investigated so far. And I think the preponderance of evidence points to it coming from a lab," he added. "This is a lab that Dr. Fauci personally funded through the NIH, personally approved of it, and it's also research that never underwent the scrutiny of the pandemic virus committee that should have been looking at this." 

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Sen. Ron Johnson said Dr. Fauci had maintained the support of "the mainstream media" throughout the pandemic. (Getty Images)

Johnson echoed Paul's sentiment on the timing of Fauci's departure, and called his handling of a number of worldwide health crises during his decades-long tenure "a miserable failure."

"It doesn't surprise me in the slightest," he said. "I interpret it as Dr. Fauci trying to get out of Dodge… That's the simplest explanation." 

"I think he's done immeasurable harm in his position, not only during the COVID response, which I think was a miserable failure, but I would argue during the whole response on AIDS as well," he added, referencing Fauci's role in the U.S. government's response to the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s.

Both senators accused Fauci, 81, of attempting to "cover up" the National Institutes of Health's role in funding coronavirus research prior to the pandemic, and when asked if there would be investigations should Republicans win control of the Senate, both committed to getting to the bottom of where the coronavirus originated and if U.S. funding played a role.

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"Without a doubt," Johnson said when asked about the possibility of Senate investigations taking place. 

Paul went further into detail, stressing that a potential investigation needed to look into why funding for research in China wasn't questioned, considering the level of danger associated with it.

"I think [Fauci] let us down on the oversight of this. I think worse than letting the country down was that I think he's attempting to cover up any connection of the NIH with that lab in Wuhan… If Republicans take over the Senate, I'm the chair of the committee, I will subpoena Dr. Fauci, I will subpoena all the records. We are going to get to the bottom of where this virus came from," Paul said.

Sen. Rand Paul speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on July 20, 2021, in Washington. (Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)

Johnson and Paul split, however, over whether Fauci amounted to a political liability for President Biden considering the sharp criticism he'd received from both Democrats and Republicans since the start of the pandemic.

Johnson argued that Fauci had maintained the support of "the mainstream media" throughout the pandemic, which was included in what he referred to as the "COVID cartel."

"One of the reasons our response to COVID has been such a miserable failure has been because of the COVID cartel, which is the Biden administration, federal health agencies, people like Fauci, the pharmacy companies, the legacy corporate media, then the legacy social media giants," he said. 

"That was the cartel that pushed misinformation, that censored accurate information, that is responsible for the miserable, failed response. So the mainstream media, Big Tech, social media giants, they support Fauci," he added. 

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Sen. Ron Johnson takes his seat for a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on Feb. 16, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Paul argued that Fauci was "without question" a liability for Biden.

"He's been on every side of every issue. He's come up with so many proposals that don't make any sense – wearing two masks, three masks, wearing cloth masks," he said. "For a long time he was telling us that it didn't matter if you've already had COVID, but in reality, the best protection anyone can have is already having had the disease."

"I think he politicized his position. I think he also covered up the origins of the virus. I think lack of judgment and also possible malfeasance was enough reasons for him to have been fired long ago," he added.

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Fauci will step down from his position in December ahead of the swearing in of the new Congress and newly elected or re-elected senators.

Analysts largely predict Republicans to take control of the House of Representatives, but control of the Senate remains a toss-up.