Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment, refuses to answer questions at Senate Republican hearing on response to COVID-19 | Today’s news
Anthony Fauci, America’s former top infectious disease expert, invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday (July 29) and refused to answer questions during a Republican-led Senate committee hearing on the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins.
Republican lawmakers continue to scrutinize his role in the nation’s response to COVID-19, accusing him of lying to Congress about research linked to the origin of the virus — charges he has repeatedly denied.
The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) appeared before the committee after being subpoenaed by Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Fauci is citing legal advice
In his opening statement, Fauci said he was invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination on the advice of his attorney.
“The only conclusion I can come to is that the only reason he’s calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that might justify his repeated public promises that I would end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,'” Fauci said, referring to Sen. Paul.
He added that invoking the Fifth Amendment was a difficult decision, but necessary under the circumstances.
Fauci’s move effectively prevented lawmakers from questioning him on issues including the government’s response to the pandemic, the origins of COVID-19 and US-funded research involving laboratories in China.
Rand Paul criticizes again
Opening the hearing, Paul accused Fauci of helping to create the conditions that led to the pandemic by approving research involving virus mutations and then trying to cover up his role.
“Instead of apologizing, you’ve avoided responsibility for years,” Paul said.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the committee’s ranking member, dismissed the hearing as politically motivated, saying lawmakers should focus on current threats to national security rather than revisiting debates about the pandemic.
Read also | Trump attacked Fauci, saying he was “always trying to protect China” during COVID
Fauci’s diary released
Before the hearing, Paul released more than 1,000 pages from Fauci’s personal diary documenting the years of the pandemic.
Paul posted on X claiming the documents show that “what Fauci wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories.”
Some of the diary entries describe Fauci’s uncertainty during the early stages of the outbreak, when scientists were still trying to understand the novel coronavirus and develop effective public health measures. Similar reports have already appeared in Fauci’s 2024 memoir and previous interviews.
Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, dismissed Paul’s allegations as “false and disgraceful” and said all legal options were being considered.
Trump attacks Fauci: ‘He always tried to protect China’
Before the hearing, President Donald Trump criticized Fauci on social media, saying he had gradually lost confidence in the veteran scientist amid disagreements over masks, lockdowns and other pandemic policies.
Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Far more people died of Covid under the Biden administration than under the Trump administration. ‘Operation Warp Speed’ was a HUGE SUCCESS, in fact, many say, one of the most successful things an American president has ever done. I beat Fauci on that. His ideas were CRAZY! I also said from the beginning that the Wu virus, the Fachans are trying to protect themselves from China. China. I inherited Fauci who had been there since 1980s, but with each passing day, too many bad calls relied on him to do a much better job than the Dumocrats were largely out of the game, and then along came Sleepy Joe Biden, who made Fauci “King! I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either clueless or dishonest. The call was well received, but Fauci didn’t follow through. Unfortunately, Biden gave him tremendous destructive power. The rest is history!”
Debate over the origin of COVID
Central to the hearing was whether research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in China contributed to the emergence of COVID-19.
Republicans also accused Fauci of lying to Congress about whether NIH grants awarded to the New York-based EcoHealth Alliance supported research benefiting from a position at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
A House Republican subcommittee that investigated the issue in 2024 found no evidence linking Fauci to wrongdoing.
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