Republican Sen. Ted Cruz calls for the prosecution of infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, accusing the medical expert of lying to the Congress when he denied that the National Institutes of Health had funded the "gain of function" research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Fauci had hit back Cruz and said "I have to laugh at that," rhetorically asking that he should be prosecuted. The infectious disease expert then asked Cruz, "What happened on January 6, senator?" according to an Independent report.

Cruz was among the Republican senators who voted against confirming U.S. President Joe Biden's presidential victory on January 6, which was the same day when a mob of former President Donald Trump's supporters breached the Capitol building. The Capitol riot killed at least five people during the incident.

Fauci was asked by CBS News host Margaret Brennan if he thinks he is being made a scapegoat to deflect from President Trump.

He responded affirmatively and said that one will have to be "asleep not to figure that one out."

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that he was just doing his job and will be saving lives, while "they're going to be lying."

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Prosecution Against Dr. Anthony Fauci

Cruz, alongside Sen. Rand Paul, have accused Fauci of lying to Congress about the NIH funding of gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, where some believe it accidentally leaked from a lab.

Fauci described the matter as a "political football" and decried what he called "a lot of misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies," according to a New York Post report.

Cruz called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to appoint a special prosecutor to probe Fauci after the doctor claimed that NIH did not fund the gain-of-function research, as opposed to the agency's later admission.

Cruz replied on Twitter and called Fauci an "unelected technocrat who has distorted science and facts" to exercise "authoritarian control" over American lives.

Fauci said that if they are criticizing science because he represents science, "that's dangerous."

Paul joined the verbal sparring between Cruz and Fauci and said that "the absolute hubris" of someone claiming that one represents science, particularly one who has worked so hard to ignore the science of natural immunity.

Fauci and Paul faced each other during an argument over the push to reopen schools, whether it was safe to relax restrictions of businesses, and the necessity for people to be wearing masks after they get vaccinated, according to a People report.

Last year, the allies of Trump accused Fauci of seeking to undermine the administration, while the former president frequently slammed Fauci, according to The Hill report.

Fauci would give advice during the Trump administration that was opposing what Trump was publicly saying about the coronavirus.

Trump said before Election Day in 2020 that he was considering firing Fauci. The infectious disease expert had denied that he thought of resigning amid the peak of the pandemic last year.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has repeatedly stood by Fauci despite the criticisms from Republicans.

READ MORE: Dr. Anthony Fauci Says COVID Variant Omicron Might Evade Protections Gained by Vaccination, Previous Infection

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Written by Mary Webber

WATCH: Fauci fires back at Cruz over COVID claims about Chinese lab - from KHOU 11