Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday that the Senate Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing next week to consider a contempt of Congress citation against Dr. Anthony Fauci, after the former NIAID director refused to testify at the committee’s hearing examining his conduct before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Fauci’s legal team argued he faced a realistic threat of perjury prosecution if he testified, which they said justified invoking the Fifth Amendment despite the preemptive pardon issued by Joe Biden before he left office.
Fauci said in his opening statement that he would not answer due to what he described as Paul’s “unhinged” obsession with prosecuting him.
“Although it pains me to do so because of the respect that 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 of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions,” Fauci said in his one and only statement.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination over 70 times, declining to answer any questions, including “what day of the week is it?” “what color tie are you wearing,” and “what color is the carpet?”
“All he had to do today was be honest, even if he committed a crime, and he would have no jeopardy,” Sen. Paul stated at the end of the hearing. “We plan to have a vote next week on contempt.”
Earlier, Sen. Paul had explicitly stated there would be “repercussions” for Fauci’s refusal to answer questions, informing him that obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime.
“In the red folder on your table is a copy of Section 192 of Title II of the US Code… that section makes it a crime for a witness appearing under subpoena to refuse to answer any questions pertinent to the question under inquiry. Do you have that in front of you?” Paul asked.
Fauci refused to answer, pleading the Fifth.
“Let the record show that the witness has refused to answer whether there’s a folder in front of him based on his Fifth Amendment right,” Paul said.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and other Republicans argued that accepting a pardon legally nullified the right to plead the Fifth, labeling Fauci’s silence as “contempt for the American people.”
The committee will decide next week whether to refer a contempt citation to the Department of Justice for consideration.
Ahead of the hearing, the Kentucky senator released over 1,100 pages of Fauci’s diary entries, spanning from December 2019 to December 2022. The bombshell diary entries reveal the lifelong bureaucrat’s private doubts about the virus’s origins even as he publicly insisted that the virus emerged naturally, as well as his understanding early on that COVID-19 was merely a bad case of the flu while he publicly claimed it was ten times worse than the flu.
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The journals also document numerous other examples of his duplicity, along with his stunning arrogance, and preoccupation with fame and adoration as infections rose.
During the contentious hearing, Republicans focused on the lab-leak origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and allegations that Fauci misled the public and Congress about virtually every aspect of the pandemic.
Every Democrat except Senator John Fetterman (D-Penn.) staunchly defended the disgraced former NIAID director and Sen. Paul had to eject Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, from the hearing room for repeatedly interrupting proceedings after being warned.
Senator Bernie Moreno (R- Ohio) repeatedly asked Fauci if he knew what the Fifth Amendment said, before having one of his aides give him a small copy of the Constitution.
Fauci again responded that he was invoking his Fifth Amendment right.
The senator asked audience members who had criticized the government’s draconian COVID policies and suffered some form of retaliation to stand up.
“Dr Fauci, can you just turn around and look at the people behind you? You’re not willing to do that? It’s not a question … It’s a request. All you have to do is look up from your lawyers and look at the people who were absolutely shamed for saying what we know now to be the truth. You can’t even look at them?” Moreno asked.
Fauci refused to look at the people who were harmed by his recommendations.
Moreno stated that he decided to give up his businesses and run for office in 2020 was because he couldn’t sit idly and let authoritarians like Fauci trample on the rights of ordinary Americans with “catastrophically stupid” policies.
“Here I am sitting in front of you six years later saying “who the f-ck do you think you were for doing that?” he said. “It is a total disgrace what you did to this country. And if my Democrat colleagues are standing there defending you, I hope the voters of the United States of America watch the clips of every one of you doting on a guy who was more interested in being a celebrity, than saving the American people.”
The Ohio senator said he would make it his “mission” to make sure voters saw those clips, telling Fauci, “there is no defense for what you did.”
“You may have had a 50-plus year legacy of public service but it ends in total and complete disgrace,” Moreno said.
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