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Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of "colluding" with teachers unions to spread COVID "hysteria" and promote school closures after the former NIAID director tried to absolve himself of responsibility in a recent interview.

Fauci struck a defensive tone during a New York Times interview this week in which he reflected on his and the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic while deflecting blame for lockdowns and school closures, the consequences of which have become a congressional focus with Republicans at the helm.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 01: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President, gives an update on the Omicron COVID-19 variant during the daily press briefing at the White House on December 01, 2021 in Washington, DC. The first case of the omicron variant in the United States has been confirmed today in California. ((Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images))

"This is hysteria, and it comesfrom the top down, and Fauci wasessentially the top dog in town,"Paul said Wednesday on "America Reports.""He was giving the information,wear a mask, one mask, two mask,cloth masks, he was giving the information that natural immunitydidnt make any senseDr. Fauci discounted naturalimmunity none fo those policies happened and then we went overboard andclosed the schools with noevidence of children were gettingsick or dying."

Paul made the comment inside the U.S. Capitol where just moments earlier, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), one of the nations most powerful teachers unions, was grilled by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic on her unions role in influencing public policy on school lockdowns.

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Paul said Fauci's guidance on lockdowns and school closures was widely determined by Weingarten and other union leaders, who were "self-interested" and saw an opportunity to "getpaid for not working" while causing immeasurable harm to U.S. students.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questions Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical adviser and director of the NIAID, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to COVID-19 and new emerging variants on Jan. 11, 2022 at Capitol Hill in Washington. (Photo by GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (GREG NASH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

"Without question, our kids have beendamaged, and some of them will be a long time in therecovery.But also without question, there was collusion between Fauci andgovernment public health experts and the internet, there was collusion with the teachers unions," he said. "We cannot stop theteachers union from giving theadvice they dont think theteachers should work, but we canstop the government from colludingwith them in secret, to the detriment of our students."

Addressing critics like Paul and other Republican lawmakers demanding accountability for school and business closures, Fauci insisted that his recommendations were merely based on the CDC's public health guidance and that he in no way dictated public policy.

"Show me a school that I shut down and show me a factory that I shut down. Never. I never did," Fauci told the New York Times. "I gave a public health recommendation that echoed the CDCs recommendation, and people made a decision based on that. But I never criticized the people who had to make the decisions one way or the other."

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 22: American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten speaks as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) listens at the AFL-CIO on June 22, 2022 in Washington, DC. The AFL-CIO held an event to discuss "the importance of student debt cancellation for American workers." (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images))

Paul said Fauci's recommendations carried "the force of a mandate" in the United States, adding that the outspoken White House task force member was well aware of the weight his words carried.

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"If Dr. Fauci says you need towear masks, and its against the bestpractices not to wear a mask andI own a hotel,Im fearful if I dont followDr. Faucis recommendations,which are not really a mandatebut they become a mandate," Paul said. "Imgoing to be sued for notobserving best practices, so hisedicts did have the force of amandate.Democratic governors largely throughout the U.S. followedthem, schools followed them.

"You can look at the transcriptwhen I challenged him on openingschools I gave him theinformation," Paul continued, referencing an earlier exchange with Fauci on the topic. "We put up six different chartsof European countries and hadgone back to school withoutincrease or exacerbation ofinfection and it just went right by him.

"Hes been on both sides of the schoolissue two dozen times,"Paul continued. "Several articles summarized hesbeen on both sides of the issuealmost [in] the same day some daysso people who have a self-interestin not working should not be theones guiding usin what kind of policy we shouldhave for having the schoolsopen.Bad science, bad for students,once again, the teachers unions isconcerned with themselves andnot necessarily with thestudents."

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"Everything they told us waswrong. It was a lie." he concluded.

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Sen. Rand Paul accuses Fauci of colluding with teachers union to promote 'hysteria' around school reopenings - Fox News