Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment more than 100 times at COVID-19 hearing

Florida attorney general announces investigation into Fauci after hearing

Fauci, 85, appeared before the committee under a subpoena that Paul issued in June after the infectious-disease doctor declined to testify voluntarily. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during the hearing.

“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer,” Fauci said repeatedly during the hearing, citing his Fifth Amendment rights.

Fauci told senators that he had previously testified or briefed congressional committees more than 200 times but was declining to answer in this instance because he believed the hearing was part of a “campaign of slander” against him.

Fauci accused Paul of having what he called an “unhinged obsession” with him and said the sole reason Paul called him before the committee was to elicit testimony that could support Paul’s repeated public pledges that Fauci end up “behind bars.”

Paul said the released documents showed Fauci was not forthright with the American public. Paul also warned of “repercussions” for the refusal to answer questions, telling Fauci, “It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress.”

Republicans on the committee split over whether Fauci retained a Fifth Amendment right to refuse answers. Paul had warned before the hearing that the pardon would not protect Fauci if he were to lie to Congress.

David Schertler, Fauci’s lawyer, said in a statement that Paul’s accusations were “false and disgraceful” and that the defense would “examine all options to hold him accountable.”

The hearing exposed the continuing partisan divide over Fauci’s years after his 2022 retirement from government. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Fox News that his staff retrieved the diaries from department servers and provided them to Paul.

Florida’s attorney general said after the hearing that his office was launching an investigation into Fauci. Separately, Sen. Tommy Tuberville told Newsmax he hoped Alabama would prosecute Fauci if Tuberville wins his race for governor.

Stanley Brand, a former House general counsel, told the Journal that Fauci’s blanket invocation of the Fifth Amendment placed the burden on the committee to test the limits of the pardon in court.