Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment 111 times in Senate hearing on COVID origins
Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Wednesday. The hearing was led by Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Fauci, the 85-year-old former National Institutes of Health official, declined to answer questions 111 times while under oath. His lawyer, David Schertler, was escorted from the room after Paul warned of "consequences" and "repercussions" for Fauci's refusal to testify.
"You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disruptive. Would you behave this way in a courtroom? No, because the judge would put you in jail," Paul told Schertler. "I can’t do that today, but I can have you escorted from the premises."
In his opening remarks, Fauci accused Paul of having an "unhinged obsession" with him. "Given Senator Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently, his publicly releasing my personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that can vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words, quote, ‘behind bars,’" Fauci said.
Paul defended his decision to eject Schertler from the hearing. "You don’t get to do that. That’s one thing you give up when you take the Fifth Amendment. You don’t get to put your lawyer forward to justify. You can do it in the press," Paul said.
Democratic members of the panel have stated that Paul is wrongly seeking to trap Fauci in a potential misstep that could lead to perjury charges. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said the hearing is part of a "campaign against science" that "has made this country less safe."
Paul has been a vocal critic of Fauci's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and has previously called for his prosecution. Fauci has denied any wrongdoing.
The hearing is part of an ongoing investigation by the Senate Homeland Security Committee into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci led the nation's infectious disease efforts during the pandemic.
Fauci's refusal to answer questions has led to a vote on a contempt resolution against him, which is scheduled to take place next week. Paul has said that Fauci's use of the Fifth Amendment is "unsupported" because former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci before leaving office on January 19, 2025. The pardon covers any offenses Fauci may have committed starting in 2014 in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic or his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. However, Fauci's legal team has argued that the pardon does not protect him from potential perjury charges if he were to make false statements during the hearing.
During the hearing, Paul questioned Fauci about "dangerous" research he says the government funded in China, which Fauci has disputed in the past, as well as "gain-of-function" research Paul says was conducted on monkeypox at Fort Detrick, an Army installation in Frederick, Maryland. Fauci refused to answer the questions.
Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, told Fauci he wasn't surprised that the former top infectious disease expert was taking the Fifth: "I think it would be almost impossible for you to answer the questions truthfully without really demonstrating what you did."
The hearing comes after Paul released Fauci's personal diary, which Fauci said was aimed at embarrassing and intimidating him. Fauci has been a target of criticism from Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who has called Fauci's ideas "crazy."
Fauci led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years and became the face of the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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