Rand Paul GRILLS Samantha Powers Over Gain-of-Function Research Lies

Senator Rand Paul grilled USAID Director Samantha Powers about her agency funding gain-of-function research.

Paul brought up Powers’ past denials about USAID funding gain of function research, and offered her the ability to correct the record or reiterate her position. 

A report in June 2023 from the Government Accountability Office found that the National Institutes of Health and USAID provided nearly $2.2 million in grant funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and two other labs that conducted gain-of-function research (and that’s not all). 

Powers replied that there’s “no evidence” that USAID funded gain-of-function research, which she phrased as if the budget of the agency she heads is a mystery. “And we certainly haven’t authorized gain-of-function research,” she added.

Paul responded by showing a photo of a paper on gain-of-function research from 2015 was funded by USAID. 

When asked if she was aware of this, Powers denied ever authorizing gain-of-function research, and said it was her first time seeing this paper, which she said she would “look into,” which means ignore in hopes that everyone forgets about it. 

Watch the full exchange below:

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