Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday under subpoena and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, refusing to answer questions from the committee's chair, Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Fauci, 83, formerly the federal government's top infectious disease expert, told the committee why he was declining to testify. According to CBS News, he told the panel directly: "The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, 'behind bars.'"
The hearing came just days after Paul's office released a trove of diary entries Fauci wrote during his time leading the government's COVID-19 pandemic response under both the Trump and Biden administrations. In those journal entries, Fauci recounted early discussions about the origins of the coronavirus, an issue that Paul has long pursued and accused Fauci of downplaying.
Paul questioned Fauci about gain-of-function research, which refers to changes made to an organism that confer a new or enhanced ability, as well as other aspects of the pandemic response. Fauci invoked the Fifth in response to each question. Paul responded with a direct warning from the dais: "The committee will have to consider after this hearing what appropriate action should be taken against you for the failure to testify after being directed to do so. It's against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today."
Fauci was eventually removed from the hearing room. His attorney then spoke to reporters outside. Without identifying himself by name, the attorney said: "Dr. Fauci has a valid Fifth Amendment privilege, and he has the right to assert it. That's what I was trying to tell the committee."
Not every Republican on the panel agreed with Paul's approach. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma acknowledged Fauci's constitutional right to invoke the Fifth Amendment, but raised his own concerns about the pandemic's broader consequences. Lankford brought up Fauci's own diary entries, which noted concern about children being unable to receive measles vaccinations during pandemic-related shutdowns. He also raised persistent drops in children's literacy since the pandemic. Fauci invoked the Fifth in response to Lankford's questions as well. "There are a lot of issues and a lot of questions that have come up, and hopefully in some day in the future, we'll be able to get all this clarity," Lankford said.
The hearing marked a sharp escalation in a years-long conflict between Paul and Fauci that stretched back to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul has repeatedly accused Fauci of lying to Congress about U.S. funding for research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China. Fauci has consistently denied those charges.
The committee has not yet announced what action, if any, it will take following Fauci's refusal to answer questions under subpoena.
