#ArrestFauci trends on Twitter as doctor faces criticism for controversial virus research, testing on dogs

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The phrase #ArrestFauci was trending on Twitter Sunday afternoon in response to multiple controversies surrounding Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Twitter users posted the hashtag calling out Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, over reports that hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars were used to subject dogs to cruel testing before ultimately killing them.

The NIAID said in a statement: "All animals used in NIH-funded research are protected by laws, regulations, and policies to ensure the smallest possible number of subjects and the greatest commitment to their welfare."

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, responds to questions by Sen. Rand Paul during the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on July 20, 2021.  (J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

FLASHBACK: MEDIA DEFENDED ANTHONY FAUCI'S FALSE CLAIMS ABOUT WUHAN LAB FUNDING IN FEUD WITH RAND PAUL

Virologist Shi Zheng-li, left, works with her colleague in the P4 lab of Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017. (Feature China/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

Additionally, Fauci has been criticized after an National Institutes of Health (NIH) official appeared to confirm that taxpayers funded gain-of-function research on the coronavirus at a lab in Wuhan, China despite Fauci’s repeated claims that was not the case.

In July, Republican Sen. Rand Paul called for the Department of Justice to issue a criminal referral against Fauci for lying to Congress about gain-of-function research funded by the NIH.

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY 'COMPLICIT' IN GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH: BOOK

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., questions Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss the ongoing federal response to COVID-19 on May 11, 2021 in Washington, DC.  (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)

"I will be sending a letter to Department of Justice asking for a criminal referral because he has lied to Congress. We have scientists that were lined up by the dozens to say that the research he was funding was gain-of-function," the Kentucky Republican told Fox News' Sean Hannity.

"He's doing this because he has a self interest to cover his tracks and to cover his connection to Wuhan lab," Paul continued. 

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Fauci's NIH told Fox News this week that Fauci has been "entirely truthful" during his testimony on gain-of-function research.