Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment and declines to testify in COVID Senate hearing

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer dozens of questions from senators in a Republican-led committee hearing about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The decision, at least for now, sidesteps calls for his prosecution if he is accused of lying at the hearing, part of a yearslong campaign for his arrest spearheaded by some Republicans in Congress. Though the now-retired infectious-disease expert received a presidential pardon from Democratic President Joe Biden, critics have suggested he could still face charges if he perjures himself under oath.

In response to angry, sometimes mocking, questions from Republican senators, Fauci declined to answer more than 50 times, injecting new drama into partisan divides that have festered for years about the origins and handling of the pandemic.

Fauci, who helped lead the nation’s COVID-19 response, has long been a target of those frustrations. But to his supporters he is an emblem of sound scientific expertise.

The scientist had been subpoenaed to appear before the committee by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has long had a fraught relationship with Fauci and led the charge seeking that he testify, again, under oath.

In his opening statement, Fauci said Paul has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.”

“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, quote, behind bars, unquote.” Fauci said, adding that while it pains him to do so, he is following his attorney’s advice by taking the Fifth.