I did see this at the time.
Paul has repeatedly asserted that the U.S. funded gain of function research. The two had a public spat at a Senate Health Committee in July, with Paul suggesting Fauci lied to Congress about whether the NIH funded GOF research. Fauci said he "never lied before the congress" and stood by his assertion that the NIH did not fund GOF research at the Wuhan Insitute of Virology. He said: "Sen. Paul, you do not know what you're talking about, quite frankly."
And if some thinks gain of function is simple, they just don't know enough to understand what they don't know.