On Monday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President, for reports that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Fauci funded torturous experiments on otherwise healthy puppies.

“A report from the White Coat Waste Project that was based off a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Disease found that more than $400,000 in taxpayer money was spent on canine experiments during which beagles were infected with parasites via biting flies,” Fox News reported. “The Project reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci’s bureaucracy’s budget in 2021 is an estimated $6 billion and that documents obtained through FOIA show evidence of a study in which otherwise healthy beagles were treated with an experimental medication before being introduced to biting flies that were carrying a parasite known to be contagious to humans.”

DeSantis made the comments after discussing recent news that suggested Fauci lied about whether gain of function research on bat coronaviruses being conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

NIH not only funded dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, but it also funded cruel experiments on puppies.

Where is the accountability? pic.twitter.com/XpvtmFm0Lj

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) October 25, 2021

“And then come to find out, what else is Fauci and NIH doing?” DeSantis said. “They’re doing cruel experiments on puppies. What they were doing with those puppies, is flat-out disgusting. It’s despicable, that needs to stop. I cannot believe American tax dollars would go to treat those dogs the way those dogs are be[ing] treated. And, you know, I really think Fauci needs to be held accountable.”

“These people, these bureaucrats, they don’t get to just run wild and do whatever the hell they want to with our tax dollars,” DeSantis added. “And so from funding gain of function research, to treating these puppies with really unimaginable cruelty, I think that whole lot of them need to be cleaned out and we need to be standing up for the American taxpayer and doing things ethically and not doing things like gain of function research and certainly not abusing puppies.”

DeSantis later posted the video of his comments on Twitter with the caption, “NIH not only funded dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, but it also funded cruel experiments on puppies. Where is the accountability?”