Rand Paul to target ‘COVID cover-up’ as head of Senate Homeland Security committee

Sen. Rand Paul will take over the chairmanship of the upper chamber’s Homeland Security Committee starting in January after two years as the panel’s top Republican — and he’s told The Post he wants to uncover the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I chose to chair this committee over another because I believe that, for the health of our republic, Congress must stand up once again for its constitutional role,” Paul (R-Ky.) said in an exclusive interview Wednesday. “This committee’s mission of oversight and investigations is critical to Congress reasserting itself.”

“I think we’re on the cusp of, really, the beginning of uncovering what happened with COVID,” the 61-year-old added.

After years of subpoenaing government agencies about research grants and funding related to the origins of the coronavirus, Paul believes his newfound power — coupled with a sympathetic president in the White House come Jan. 20 — will help promote transparency.

“We are going to, hopefully, have a friendlier administration, and we’re hoping that there will be a friendly person at [the Department of Health and Human Services], and we’re hoping they’ll be friendly at [the National Institutes of Health],” he said.

Paul is also spearheading an effort to pass the Risky Research Review Act, which would pump the brakes on dangerous scientific work — like the gain-of-function research many believe created the virus which caused the worst global outbreak in a century.

“The biggest item of the COVID coverup is that for years, we’ve known there is this dangerous research,” said Paul, who added that he wants to ensure Americans are free to discuss such topics without fear of suppression by the government in tandem with social media companies.

Paul recalled being censored on YouTube for saying cloth masks don’t work against COVID-19 and Twitter’s censorship of The Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election as examples of abuse of power by both the government and Big Tech.

“The idea that the government would pre-emptively be telling people not to publish things, to me, is horrendous,” he said. 

Paul’s next priority is overseeing border security and he has joined calls for President-elect Donald Trump to target convicted criminals already in the US illegally for an initial wave of deportations once he takes office Jan. 20.

The Kentuckian also wants Trump to reinstate his “Remain in Mexico” policy, which ordered asylum seekers to await the outcome of their cases south of the Rio Grande.

“Most people don’t understand, myself included, why, if you’re illegally coming across a river in a boat or walking, you’re not just deposited back on the other side?” he asked rhetorically. “You’re breaking the law.”

Paul’s ultimate goal over the next two years is promoting openness in places that have been most resistant to it.

“We’re just scratching at the tip of the iceberg,” he told The Post. “Most of the [documents] we’ve been trying to get so far are non-classified. You can imagine what may be happening in our government or other governments.”