Kentucky's junior senator is making his way around the Commonwealth now that the U.S.

Senate is in recess.

So what does Senator Rand Paul have to say about his colleague Mitch McConnell's health problems?

And what's next after his recommendation that Doctor Anthony Fauci be held in contempt of Congress?

Our Mackenzie Spink caught up with Kentucky's junior senator this week as he made stops around Central Kentucky.

During his visit to the Toyota manufacturing plant in Georgetown.

Senator Rand Paul was asked his opinion on Senator Mitch McConnell's health challenges, an extended absence from the Senate.

McConnell has been away from the Senate since June due to a fall.

He recently returned home from a rehabilitation center.

Paul says he doesn't understand the demand for more transparency.

People know he's out of all people know he's been out.

And I think that's just an individual decision that everyone has to make about, you know, exactly what they reveal about their own health condition when you're not showing up.

But he has he's told people he's he's had a fall and an injury.

So, I would be surprised.

Like I say, if we don't see him back in Labor Day, he only has, you know, two months left in office.

In late July, doctor Anthony Fauci, who largely led the country's response to the Covid 19 pandemic, testified in a Senate committee led by Senator Paul.

Doctor Fauci declined to answer the committee.

More than 100 times, pleading the Fifth Amendment under advice from his attorney.

After calls from Republican senators, including Doctor Paul, a Senate committee voted to fine doctor Fauci in contempt of Congress, paving the way for a potential investigation into whether or not he used his Fifth Amendment right appropriately.

We believe that Anthony Fauci could come, and as long as he's willing to tell the truth, we wouldn't have any legal liability because he's been pardoned.

It'll be if the DOJ decides to pursue the case a judge will have to decide whether the Fifth Amendment, whether it's appropriate to plead the Fifth Amendment when you have a pardon.

Paul says President Joe Biden's 2025 pardon allows Doctor Fauci to speak without fear of prosecution, and that there needs to be an honest conversation about Doctor Fauci's conduct in order for the country to move forward.

I think the the country needs to learn from this, that we really shouldn't fund dangerous research in foreign countries.

We really shouldn't be doing dangerous research in our country where we take an animal flu and try to make it more contagious for humans.

I think that's a death wish.

I think that's just a bad idea.

And we should have that debate out in the open.

And he could be part of the solution by admitting that it was a mistake to fund this research in China.

According to the Associated Press, before the hearing in July, Doctor Fauci claimed that Paul had a quote, obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, end quote.

It is unclear if the Justice Department will pursue an investigation.

Paul says he has not spoken to U.S.

Attorney General Todd Blanch since the hearing.

One of Senator Paul's last stops this week was the Secretary of State's office.

Secretary Michael Adams is preparing a time capsule in honor of the country's 250th birthday, and Doctor Paul contributed one of his books to the unique Bourbon Barrel capsule.

One of the things we've been hearing about is when they do polls of young people, that about half of the young people think we ought to try socialism.

I think that would be a terrible idea.

So my wife and I wrote a book a couple of years ago, The Case Against Socialism, and we're putting it in there.

And the inscription I wrote, for those who were here in 25 years, I might not make it back.

It says, written with the hope that America never succumbs to socialism.

And I hope when they open it up, we'll still be a great capitalist country with all kinds of prosperity.

For Kentucky edition, I'm Mackenzie Spink.

That time capsule the doctor Paul contributed to will be kept at the Secretary of State's office and opened in 25 years from now.