Fauci Invokes the Fifth More Than 100 Times at Senate Hearing

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the retired head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times on Wednesday as the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee questioned him about the COVID-19 pandemic. Committee Chairman Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, had subpoenaed him, according to PBS NewsHour and Reuters.

Fauci, 85, who led the institute for 38 years before retiring in 2022, told senators in his opening statement that he would decline to answer “under the advice of my attorneys,” and that it “pains me to do so,” PBS reported. He said he feared his answers would be used to try to prosecute him, and he called Paul’s pursuit of him an “unhinged obsession.” PolitiFact reported that he told the committee he had testified before Congress more than 200 times. For most of the roughly three-hour session he repeated one line: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.”

Paul accused Fauci of covering up what he called a likely laboratory origin of the virus in Wuhan, China, and of misleading Congress about National Institutes of Health funding for research there. Fauci has disputed those claims. Days earlier Paul had released about 1,100 pages of diary-style notes Fauci kept on a government computer, covering December 2019 through December 2022. Reuters reported that a review by a Fauci representative found the entries consistent with his public statements at the time. “Frankly the American people deserve an apology,” Paul said, according to PolitiFact.

Other Republicans pressed on their own concerns. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin asked whether senior Food and Drug Administration officials had been shown safety signals tied to the COVID vaccine, and Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio repeatedly asked whether Fauci would apologize to people he said were harmed by pandemic policies. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri asked what day it was and what color his tie was; Fauci invoked the Fifth each time. Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the committee’s top Democrat, called the hearing biased and one-sided.

The proceeding briefly turned to Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, who tried to speak and was removed from the room after Paul refused to recognize him. Schertler called the pursuit “an obsessive vendetta” and said Fauci’s team would look at options to hold Paul accountable, Reuters reported.

Whether Fauci can rely on the Fifth is a live legal question. President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned him on Jan. 19, 2025. Legal experts quoted by PolitiFact said the pardon is generally understood to cover conduct before that date, not testimony given Wednesday, and that it reaches federal offenses only. Jessica Roth, a former federal prosecutor, told PBS that anyone may assert the Fifth if they reasonably believe they could be prosecuted, and that Paul’s stated interest in prosecuting Fauci could make that belief reasonable. Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina told PolitiFact there is a serious question whether the Senate can punish someone for exercising a constitutional right.

Paul said refusing to answer would have consequences and that the committee would vote on contempt of Congress the following week. Contempt can be civil or criminal. The origin of COVID-19 remains unresolved: the FBI and, with low confidence, the CIA have favored a lab leak, while other agencies favor natural transmission, Reuters noted. More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. died of COVID-19.