Fauci says the GOP will target him if they get control of Congress: 'It's Benghazi hearings all over again'

Dr. Anthony Fauci has suggested that if Republicans take control of Congress, they will target him, but uncover nothing.

"It's Benghazi hearings all over again," Fauci said, according to the Washington Post. "They'll try to beat me up in public, and there'll be nothing there," he said. "But it will distract me from doing my job, the way it's doing right now."

Fauci, who has served as NIAID director for more than three decades, has been a prominent public health figure throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He is also currently serving as the chief medical advisor to President Joe Biden.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who has been a vociferous critic of Fauci, proposed an amendment to nix the NIAID director position, but that proposal did not clear the Senate health panel on Tuesday, according to the Post.

Paul had proposed eliminating Fauci's role and replacing it with three directors who would helm three new institutes: A National Institute of Allergic Diseases, a National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and a National Institute of Immunologic Diseases.

"If we take over the Senate next year, I'll be chairman of the health committee, and I pledge to use the subpoena power to get every last record about the origin of the virus, about Fauci," Paul declared on "The Megyn Kelly Show" in December, according to the Post.

Fauci said that many Republican-led probes "are taking away from our effort of fighting this outbreak," and remarked that his agency's group of legislative staffers is "probably spending 40, 50 percent of their time" replying to requests regarding the origin of COVID-19 and other inquiries that he said are not rooted in facts. "It is just an overwhelming burden, asking for information that’s driven by conspiracy," he said, according to the Post.