Anthony Fauci, former chief White House medical adviser, invoked his Fifth Amendment right on Wednesday when he appeared before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing held by the committee’s chair, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
In his opening remarks, Fauci blasted Paul’s “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.” The two have a years-long history of butting heads at congressional hearings.
“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, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said.
“Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion,” he added. “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 to the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”
As Paul began his line of questioning, Fauci repeatedly declined to answer each question under his Fifth Amendment rights.
Paul’s questions focused intensely on what he characterized as Fauci’s support of gain-of-function research, which the senator argues could have contributed to a lab leak that he alleges resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci resolutely declined to answer any and all questions posed to him by the senator from Kentucky.
“The chairman has denied your assertion of privilege and directed you to answer. He nonetheless refuses and stands on privilege,” Paul said.
“The committee will have to consider at this hearing what appropriate action should be taken against you for failure to testify after being directed to do so. It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress,” he added, warning there would be “repercussions” for his refusal to answer.
One of Fauci’s attorneys, David Schertler, spoke up to defend Fauci’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment right, which Paul immediately sought to shut down.
“You’re not recognized. If you are unruly, you will be removed from the proceeding,” Paul warned. “You were told not to sit at the table. You insist on sitting at the table, and we told you you would not be recognized. You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disruptive.”
Committee ranking member Gary Peters (D-Mich.) attempted to use his own time to let the attorney speak, but Paul refused this. After several minutes of back-and-forth, Schertler was escorted out of the hearing room by a Capitol Police officer.
