Dr. Anthony Fauci shocked lawmakers Wednesday when he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Senate COVID-19 hearing. The doctor invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination just minutes into the proceedings. His refusal to answer questions led to at least one heated exchange during the highly anticipated Senate hearing.
Anthony Fauci declined to answer senators’ questions during the high-profile hearing
Republican Sen. Rand Paul chaired the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which subpoenaed Fauci to appear for the hearing. Paul has spent years accusing Fauci of covering up COVID-19’s origins and lying to Congress.
Paul planned to question Fauci about private journal entries spanning December 2019 to December 2022. However, when asked about his leadership during the 2020 pandemic, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) declined to answer.
In his opening statement, Dr. Fauci explained why he was declining to answer questions.
“Given Senator Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, 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 that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,'” Fauci said.
He further described Paul’s years-long pursuit as “unhinged.” The doctor also acknowledged that the decision was not an easy one for him personally. He said he “respects” the legislative branch of government and his “decades-long record of cooperating with Congress.”
However, he added that, under the advice of his attorneys, he had decided to “invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”
The hearing continued with Republican senators asking additional questions. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights multiple times during the hearing.
Things grew tense when Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, tried to make a statement on his client’s behalf. Sen. Paul instructed him to stop speaking, and the attorney was escorted out of the hearing room.
TELL US – DO YOU THINK FAUCI WAS RIGHT TO INVOKE THE FIFTH AMENDMENT, OR SHOULD HE HAVE ANSWERED THE COMMITTEE’S QUESTIONS?
Originally reported by Manasvi Gupta on Mandatory.
