Sen. Ron Johnson said he expects little cooperation from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, when he testifies before the Senate this week, as Republicans prepare to question the longtime public health official about the federal government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill reported Sunday.

The Wisconsin Republican told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" that "I don't expect to get much out of him" during Fauci's testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Johnson added, "I think [Fauci would] be very forgetful, completely unrepentant, arrogant — I mean, arrogant to the extreme." 

The senator said he intends to use Wednesday's hearing to highlight what he views as failure in the government's handling of the pandemic, stressing that "I'm going to try and lay out all the things that he did that were such a miserably failed response to COVID."

The hearing comes after committee Chairman Rand Paul subpoenaed Fauci to testify as part of the panel's investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and the government's involvement in research conducted in China.

The Kentucky Republican has alleged that federal officials concealed information about U.S.-funded viral research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where he and other Republicans argue the virus that caused the pandemic may have originated.

U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided over COVID-19's origins, and no definitive conclusion has been reached about whether the virus emerged from a laboratory incident or through natural animal-to-human transmission.

Paul has repeatedly accused Fauci of misleading Congress regarding research funding and has argued the former NIAID director should face criminal charges.

During a 2021 Senate hearing, Fauci denied that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funded gain-of-function research involving the virus that causes COVID-19 at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In previous interviews, Paul has said he expects Fauci to be untruthful during his upcoming testimony.

"I don't expect him to be honest; he hasn't been honest in the last six years," Paul said recently.

Paul also said negotiations with Fauci over documents and testimony had dragged on for months before the committee issued a subpoena.

"We've been negotiating with him for material and for testimony," Paul told CNBC last month. "This has gone on for some time. He slow-walked us and slow-walked us. Finally agreed to come in voluntarily ... then last week he says he's not coming in. With this subpoena power, we will bring him in, unless he fights this in court."

Fauci, who retired from government service in 2022 after advising seven presidents dating back to the Reagan administration, received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden before Biden left office amid concerns that the Trump administration could pursue legal action against him.

Wednesday's hearing is expected to renew congressional scrutiny of the government's pandemic response, including funding decisions, public health guidance, and investigations into the origins of COVID-19.