Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has a connection to Gates. Back in 2003, the medical expert served on a scientific advisory board that received partial funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And in 2021, Gates admitted he was left baffled after he and Fauci were at the center of conspiracy theories focused on COVID-19. "Nobody would have predicted that I and Fauci would be so prominent in these really evil theories," Gates told Reuters at the time. Meanwhile, Fauci has been criticized by Paul and other Republicans over allegations he hid the true origins of the pandemic.