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WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment at the start of his Wednesday hearing, ripping Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for “unhinged” remarks and claiming the only purpose of the Homeland Security Committee’s investigation was to put him “behind bars.”
“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, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” said Fauci.
“Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion. Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect 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.”
The ex-NIAID director went on to take the Fifth at least a dozen more times as Paul pressed him about the risks of so-called “gain of function” research” in China,
The Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman also asked Fauci about the limits of a sweeping pardon former President Joe Biden granted him in a final act before leaving office in January 2025.
“Have you refused this pardon, or do you have any reason to believe this full and unconditional pardon, this grant of immunity would somehow require you to plead the Fifth Amendment?” asked Paul.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer, based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” answered Fauci.
Paul had used his opening remarks before the Senate Homeland Security Committee to call attention to Fauci’s defense of so-called “gain of function” research funded by the NIAID and alleged concealment or destruction of federal records related to the COVID pandemic.
“It is a crime to destroy federal records,” said Paul. “Yet our investigation reveals your assistant diligently reported that she deleted tons of emails in 2024. You testified that you did not delete federal records. Who’s telling the truth? You or your assistant?”
“The committee has obtained repeated instructions, from you, telling federal officials to delete communications,” added the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. “On February 2nd, 2020, one day after [a conference call on COVID-19 originas], you told [then-NIH Director Dr.] Francis Collins, ‘Please delete this email after you read it.’”
An adviser to Fauci, David Morens, was indicted by federal prosecutors in May for concealing and destroying federal records.
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