The GOP chairman of the committee investigating former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci's potential role in the emergence of COVID-19, and his actions throughout the pandemic, answered Democratic charges of shutting them out by claiming they boycotted the evidence.

Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the GOP majority gave the Democratic minority an "access code" to review all the evidence they collected before Paul set up the "reading room" public website on COVID origins and risky research, but that Democrats never used it, answering claims by ranking Democrat Gary Peters of Michigan at Wednesday's hearing with Fauci.

Republicans "selectively released" records that Democrats minority never saw, withholding document and evidence from them, Peters said in his opening statement, after Paul's lengthy remarks about Fauci's alleged misconduct. He accused Paul of removing part of the committee's website from the public after Peters asked him to include Democrats in the investigation.

Peters' accusation is "categorically false," Paul responded. Democrats didn't see the documentation because "no Democrat ever signed up for it," he said.