Sen. Ted Cruz sharply escalated his criticism of Dr. Anthony Fauci after a contentious Senate hearing on the federal COVID-19 response. The Texas Republican argued the former White House medical adviser should face criminal prosecution after repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment.
The hearing quickly became one of Washington’s most heated political showdowns. It also deepened the long-running divide over the government’s pandemic response.
Ted Cruz accused Anthony Fauci of perjury and said the former COVID adviser belongs behind bars
According to Fox News Digital, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times while testifying before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee under a subpoena issued by Chairman Rand Paul.
The former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director declined to answer questions about the federal COVID-19 response and his role in funding pathogen research in China.
Cruz did not hold back after the hearing. “Dr. Fauci ought to think about what it says about the end of his career, that what he will be remembered for the most is pleading the Fifth more than 100 times,” Cruz said.
The senator then intensified his criticism. “He’s been the most damaging bureaucrat in the history of America,” Cruz said. “He should be held in contempt, he should be prosecuted for perjury, and he should go to jail.”
Cruz also accused Fauci of misleading Congress and the public. “I think Anthony Fauci has had contempt for Congress and contempt for the American people for decades,” he said. “His diary shows that he deliberately lied to the American people over and over and over again.”
The Republican pointed to diary entries that he claimed contradicted Fauci’s public comments about the origins of COVID-19 and school closures.
“In his diary, he brags about convincing Democrats in New York and California to shut schools down,” Cruz said. “The school shutdowns… may well be the single most destructive public policy step we’ve seen in decades.”
Not everyone agreed with the hearing’s tone. Sen. John Fetterman said lawmakers should examine Fauci’s actions but criticized forcing the 85-year-old witness to invoke the Fifth repeatedly.
“I do think it’s entirely appropriate to really hold Fauci accountable,” Fetterman said. “But I don’t think it’s really appropriate to pound an 85-year-old man… just to try to humiliate the guy.”
TELL US – WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE SENATE HEARING AND THE REACTION TO ANTHONY FAUCI’S TESTIMONY?
Reported by Vanshika Vasundhare Singh on Mandatory.
