Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., tells Just the News his investigation into Dr. Anthony Fauci's stewardship of the COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered fresh evidence of government-document destruction and more extensive gain-of-function research that enhances the human lethality of viruses.

Paul, an M.D. specializing in ophthalmologic surgery, said the revelations were included in communications on Fauci's phone, computer and diary and were the reason why his committee tried but failed Wednesday to pass a measure granting prosecutorial immunity to a former top aide to Fauci so she could testify freely about the issues.

"More explosive information that comes out in the next week," Sen. Paul says

Instead of helping the public learn who did what and when, Democrats kept the panel from reaching the required two-thirds majority needed to pass the immunity measure.

"We will have some more explosive information that comes out in the next week, though, that some of the communications between Anthony Fauci and his assistant involved some programs that are very worrisome, gain-of-function programs that we didn't know existed until we came across these emails," Paul said during a wide-ranging interview on the Just the News, No Noise television show Wednesday.

He added: "It is our belief that most of the gain-of-function research that's going on, and probably still goes on, is classified and done in the bioweapons or biodefense category, but they won't tell us." 

Paul said he was frustrated by Democrats on the committee for refusing to help Americans get more answers about COVID and possible dangerous research. But he also singled out a Republican Senate colleague, Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., for criticism, exposing a rift in the chamber among majority Republicans over access to classified gain-of-function research.

An internal fight in Congress, not limited to "red vs. blue"

"There's an internal fight in Congress," he said. "So Tom Cotton is the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. He is doing everything he possibly can to prevent us from getting information about these programs. He has written to the Director of National Intelligence and said that he does not want any information shared with our committee," Paul said.

"If it goes to him, he might condescend if he decides to do so, to let us look at some information," Paul added. "But the problem is what we really need are scientists. And even when I oversee this, I ask the opinion of scientists because it's classified. We have no assurance that any scientists with any kind of skepticism are looking over this and saying whether we should be doing this or not, and if you want to be alarmed by this."

Paul recently summoned Fauci to testify before his committee, but the retired top doc refused to answer most questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Paul's panel referred Fauci to the Justice Department for possible prosecution for contempt of Congress. As Fauci was granted a pardon by President Biden in the waning days of his term, constitutional experts insist that Fauci does not have the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Paul said he has found more evidence of the culture of secrecy inside Fauci's inner circle, including possible destruction of documents mentioned by the assistant. Government emails are generally required to be preserved under the Federal Records Act.

"By looking at Anthony Fauci's logs that he was keeping on a government computer, we discovered that his assistant was bragging to him in one of the emails. 'Hey, Dr. Fauci, I was able to destroy tons of your emails this weekend.' Well, that's illegal," Paul said.

That discovery was a key reason why the committee wanted to grant immunity to the former top Fauci aide, he said.

Senators ask "who gave the orders?"

Your emails between each other for work from the executive branch are considered to be federal records, and so we wanted to ask her about this. We brought her in last Friday, and she brought lawyers, and she pleaded the Fifth Amendment," he explained. "And so once she pled the Fifth, it was never our intention really to try to have her indicted. We wanted to know who gave her the orders."

"We presume Anthony Fauci. How many years she'd been doing this? Whether it was hundreds or thousands of emails? What kind of topics? And so, really, we're more interested in the guy who gave the orders because I think that's where most of the culpability is. And so, we wanted to offer her immunity," he said.

Paul said he remains hopeful he can still reach a deal with the aide and her lawyers to secure that testimony. But if not, the senator plans to refer the matter to the Justice Department.

"Within a week or two, if we don't get that cooperation, what's going to happen is she will be referred to the Department of Justice, and see, they don't have to vote at the Department of Justice. They don't have to vote on indicting someone. They have to say they broke the law, and they don't have to vote on offering someone immunity. 

"It's a typical way prosecutors act is you give immunity to the lower echelon people to get them to give information on who was giving the illegal orders to them, so they do have the ability to do it, and we keep hoping they will," he added.

Fauci has denied wrongdoing, insisting Republican allegations that he withheld certain truths about COVID's origin or kept colleagues from talking about it were false smears. "The accusation being circulated that I influenced the scientists to change their minds by bribing them with millions of dollars in grant money is absolutely false, and simply preposterous," Fauci told Congress.

"The second issue is a false accusation that I tried to cover up the possibility that the virus originated from a lab. In fact, the truth is exactly the opposite," he added. Aside from that, Fauci refused to answer substantive questions, and according to PBS NewsHour, "Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a July 29 hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, citing Paul's previous comments about wanting to incarcerate him."

Paul: "There has to be adults in the room"

Paul said his interest in getting to the bottom of exposing all gain-of-function research is security.

"There is so much classified going on, and there has to be adults in the room. It can't be well, 'China's doing it, so we're going to do it.' That's essentially what the rule of thumb has been. If China does it, we do it, and we do need to be prepared to defend ourselves," he explained.

"But there are certain experiments where you're creating viruses that are more transmissible through the air that are a death wish," he warned. "It's not that I suspect our government's going to release it on purpose. I suspect an accident will happen," he said, noting data on the frequency of lab accidents in America and abroad.