An old video has surfaced of Sen. Rand Paul telling students that spreading misinformation is a 'great tactic'

• A video re-surfaced of Sen. Rand Paul telling students that spreading misinformation is a "great tactic."
• The Kentucky senator was speaking to students in 2013 at the University of Louisville.

An old video has surfaced of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul telling an auditorium of students that he would occasionally spread misinformation, calling it a "great tactic."

The clip, posted to Twitter by epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, shows the Kentucky senator speaking to students during a lecture at the University of Louisville's school of medicine in 2013.

The lecture was reported on at the time by The Atlantic, which detailed the context of the question. According to The Atlantic, Paul was asked by a student if he had "last-minute advice" for their exams the next day.

In response, Paul said that he "never, ever cheated" and did not condone the practice, but added: "But I would sometimes spread misinformation. This is a great tactic. Misinformation can be very important."

Paul then described how he and some classmates would spread misinformation to students they viewed as competitors and send them down the wrong path during exam prep.

"We just started spreading the rumor that we knew what was on the test, and it was definitely going to be all about the liver, everything, a vast majority of the questions all about the liver," he said. "We tried to trick all of our competing students into over-studying for the liver and not studying for the kidney and every other organ."

"That's my advice, misinformation works," Paul said.

A representative for Paul replied to a request for comment from Insider via e-mail, saying: "Anyone who watches the video can clearly see that Dr. Paul was making a light-hearted joke addressing the very real stresses of medical school."

The video surfaced after NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci accused Paul this week of spreading misinformation about him for political gain.

"What happens when [Paul] gets out and accuses me of things that are completely untrue is that it kindles the crazies out there, and I have threats upon my life, [and] harassment of my family and my children with obscene phone calls because people are lying about me," Fauci said.

Fauci then held up a printout from Paul's campaign website, which read: "Fire Dr. Fauci."

"You have politically attacked your colleagues and in a politically reprehensible way you have attacked their reputations," Fauci said.

Fauci and Paul, an ophthalmologist, have repeatedly clashed, with Fauci accusing Paul of lying to Congress during a heated exchange during a Senate hearing in July.