Former infectious disease official Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions in a contentious Wednesday morning hearing held by his outspoken critic, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment.
In his opening statement, Fauci told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs that he believed Paul had an “unhinged obsession” with jailing him, and the only reason he was holding the hearing was to try to catch Fauci in a lie.
“Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions,” Fauci said.
Despite the witness’s lack of cooperation, Paul proceeded with questioning Fauci. The senator has long pushed theories that the COVID-19 virus emerged from a lab in China, and that Fauci was aware of this — and knowingly funding risky infectious disease work at the Chinese lab in question. Most scientists agree that the pandemic originated from a natural source, probably a wild animal.
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As promised, Fauci refused to answer any questions.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” he said repeatedly in his light Brooklyn drawl.
At one point, Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, attempted to address the committee. Paul had security remove him from the hearing room. Many members of the audience applauded his removal as he left.
In a written statement provided to NOTUS, Schertler said that the circumstances surrounding the hearing, including Paul’s repeated calls for Fauci’s imprisonment and the “foreseeable result of these outlandish statements” — including harassment and death threats towards Fauci and members of his family — “regrettably made his continued cooperation impossible.”
“The accusations that Chairman Paul continues to propagate are false and disgraceful, and we will examine all options to hold him accountable,” Schertler said in the statement.
Paul told Fauci the committee would have to consider “what appropriate action” to take after the hearing in response to his refusal to answer questions.
“There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today,” Paul told Fauci. “It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress.”
Courts have previously upheld a witness’s right to invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to a congressional subpoena if they fear self-incrimination. In recent history, the former CEO of ActBlue and a former Biden aide have also declined to answer questions in hearings.
Paul and others who opposed the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic have repeatedly called for Fauci’s imprisonment. In response, former President Joe Biden issued Fauci a preemptive pardon before leaving office.
Paul’s frustration with Fauci was apparent even before the former health official revealed his strategy.
“Frankly, the American people deserve an apology,” Paul told Fauci in his opening statement as chair of the committee.
“That loss of trust may be your most damaging legacy,” Paul said, speaking from a teleprompter. Fauci led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until 2022 and played a key role in the global fight against AIDS as well as COVID-19.
The hearing took place in one of the smaller Senate hearing rooms. Many of the seats were reserved for guests of Paul’s committee. Included in the audience was Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, a vaccine-skeptical organization formerly led by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to have to ask you to put two masks on,” a man sitting in a committee-reserved seat said jokingly to his neighbors before the hearing began.
It’s the culmination of a frenetic week for both Paul and Fauci. On Tuesday, Paul published excerpts from Fauci’s diary from the pandemic years, claiming that he orchestrated a cover-up of the fact that the pandemic originated in a lab and was the result of so-called “gain-of-function” research, or laboratory work on infectious diseases that makes them more dangerous to humans.
Soon after the release of the diary excerpts, the Trump administration released new guidance prohibiting federal funding going to what it deems gain-of-function research. Scientists have raised concerns that overly broad restrictions could disrupt important research into infectious diseases.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), another Fauci critic, attempted to question Fauci on whether the pulmonary infarction he wrote about in the released diary could have been caused by the COVID-19 vaccine. Johnson has repeatedly claimed that the federal government suppressed evidence of dangerous side effects caused by the vaccine.
In contrast to Paul’s threats of repercussions, one Republican appeared to affirm Fauci’s right to decline to answer questions. Like Paul, Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) attempted to question Fauci on whether the virus originated from a lab. But Lankford responded, “as is your right to do,” when Fauci invoked his right to not answer the question.
Democrats on the committee apologized to Fauci for his being compelled to appear.
“We are here in an attempt to entrap you,” Sen. Margaret Wood Hassan (D-New Hampshire) said during her questioning period, in which she did not actually ask Fauci any questions.
Gary Peters (D-Michigan), the ranking member of the committee, accused Paul of ignoring the actual duties of the committee in favor of promoting his theories around COVID-19.
He pointed to cuts to the public health agencies as the more pressing issue at hand.
“Instead of focusing on the national security challenges that we are facing in our country right now, today’s hearing looks backwards, revisiting questions this committee has already examined,” Peters said. “History tells us, unfortunately, another pandemic is all but inevitable. The question is whether Congress and this committee will work to better prepare our country for it, or continue looking backward while our public health infrastructure crumbles around us.”
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