Fauci responded to every question by saying he was declining to answer on the advice of counsel and “based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment.”
See Moreno confront Fauci: ‘Who the f-ck do you think you were?”
Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno lays into Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing on COVID.
WASHINGTON – Dr. Anthony Fauci’s leadership guiding America through the COVID-19 pandemic came under scathing criticism at a Senate hearing during which the nation’s former top infectious disease expert invoked his right against self-incrimination to avoid answering questions, and was pilloried for it by Republicans.
Over three hours in a crowded Senate hearing room on July 29, Fauci responded to every question by saying he was declining to answer on the advice of counsel and “based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”
Republicans mocked him and spent the morning castigating his response to the pandemic, accusing him of violating the law as Fauci sat stone-faced without rebutting. They keyed on more than 1,100 pages from Fauci’s personal diary that the committee released to argue he wasn’t telling Americans the truth about COVID-19.
“Nothing says honesty like taking the Fifth, huh doc?” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, asked him.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the same Senate committee came to Fauci’s defense, praising his service and saying the public inquisition was unjustified and an attempt at “entrapment.” The hearing encapsulated more than six years of political brawling about pandemic policies, from masks to vaccines and social distancing.
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been sharply criticized by many on the right for years. The 85-year-old, who retired from his job in 2022, was subpoenaed by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to testify. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, who chairs the committee, announced at the end of the hearing that the committee would still vote on holding Fauci in contempt of Congress.
Fauci invokes Fifth to avoid charges from ‘unhinged’ Paul
Fauci told the committee that he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to avoid perjury charges from Paul, whom he referred to as the “unhinged” chairman. Paul has threatened to have him prosecuted, he said.
“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.”
Republicans continued to pepper him with questions anyway, forcing Fauci to repeat that he wouldn’t answer questions.
Steven Clark, a former Santa Clara County District Attorney in California, told USA TODAY that Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid potential prosecution for perjury in a “gotcha hearing.” Clark said refusing to answer questions, even entirely off-topic ones, doesn’t imply that Fauci is guilty of anything.
“You can’t just pick and choose what questions you will answer; you have to take a blanket Fifth,” Clark said. “He’s playing it very safe, and I think it’s totally understandable, even if the optics aren’t very good.”
Republicans look to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress
Republican senators, led by Paul, made clear they aren’t done with Fauci. Before the hearing concluded, Paul said the committee plans to vote next week on whether to hold the retired director in contempt for refusing to answer questions.
However, Republicans are using a rationale that is certain to be scrutinized by lawyers.
Though Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer any questions, Paul argued the privilege is “unsupported” because of the blanket pardon former President Joe Biden awarded Fauci the day he left the White House.
Paul said the committee’s questions for Fauci were only limited to the period covered by Biden’s pardon, which shielded Fauci from prosecution for any potential criminal offense made between 2014 and 2025. Paul made that point to suggest the Fifth Amendment ‒ which protects against self-incrimination ‒ doesn’t come into play when the subject is under blanket immunity.
Yet Paul’s grounds for holding Fauci in contempt ignore that any false statement Fauci made to the committee in 2026 could have exposed him to accusations of perjury outside the time period of Biden’s pardon. In addition, Biden’s pardon did not protect Fauci from potential state or local charges.
Paul also said Fauci had effectively waived his Fifth Amendment privilege due to the opening statement he gave the committee before he announced he would be invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.
Staying silent prevented Fauci from countering COVID-19 allegations
In order to protect himself from legal jeopardy, Fauci had to refuse to answer all questions once he invoked the Fifth Amendment, which left him unable to dispute accusations about the effectiveness of alternative medications for COVID-19 or about the government’s response to the pandemic.
For example, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, asked about the health risks of vaccines and the efficacy of alternative treatments such as ivermectin. Fauci invoked his rights.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, pressed Fauci on whether he ever destroyed government records or was aware of anyone who did. GOP Sen. Ashley Moody recounted how Florida pushed back against federal recommendations about social distancing.
“We fought back. We got ridiculed for it,” Moody said. “We are now called the free state of Florida.”
But Fauci again remained mute on the details of these matters, invoking the Fifth. He shifted a pen from one hand to another, scratched an eyebrow or steepled his hands above the witness table as the senators continued questioning him.
Republicans take apart Fauci’s legacy: ‘A complete disgrace’
With Fauci unwilling to mount a defense before the committee, Republican senators worked to tear down the legacy of the once-celebrated infectious disease expert.
Fauci’s decision to shield himself by staying silent gave Republicans free rein to attack him and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic without anyone to refute their statements.
Republicans took advantage as Fauci fidgeted in his chair.
“Your legacy will not be as a man who has saved America from COVID, but as a man who destroyed the public trust in America’s public health institutions in exchange for five minutes of fame,” Scott said. “This is how history will remember you.”
Although Fauci initially worked under President Donald Trump to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, he later morphed into a villain of the MAGA movement and a hero to many on the political left.
“You may have had a 50-plus-year legacy of public service, but it ends in total and complete disgrace,” Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio said to Fauci. “So let me give you an opportunity to answer one question. Will you apologize? Just apologize to the people who you harmed through your actions.”
Fauci recited his plea.
Hawley toyed with Fauci’s non-answers. He asked Fauci to tell him the day of the week, color of his tie and color of the carpet. Fauci repeated his statement, answering none of the rudimentary questions.
“A million people dead, and you’re here taking the Fifth because you don’t want to admit that what really happened in all that time was a multi-month, multi-year course of self-dealing. Isn’t that true, Dr. Fauci?” Hawley said. “Silence is admission.”
Democrats praise Fauci’s service, but later walk out
While Fauci didn’t defend himself, Democrats on the committee pushed back against the onslaught of GOP criticism.
Sen. Andy Kim, D-New Jersey, thanked Fauci “for your service to this nation” and said he didn’t deserve the treatment from the committee. Kim worried the attacks on Fauci would discourage people from public service.
“It’s sending signals to others, others who are thinking about serving our country… that if you don’t get in line with the politics that you will also be potentially be subject to attacks,” Kim said.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire, also praised Fauci’s service and said the hearing was meant to “entrap” him.
Kim said that there are “a lot of unknowns” with a novel disease and leaders have to “make decisions without the full breadth of knowledge we always wish we had in hindsight.”
“There is nothing perfect, no perfect clarity when it comes to pandemics,” he added.
Democrats eventually walked out of the committee hearing, allowing Republican senators to speak one after another without any rebuttals.