"Who the fuck do you think you were for doing that?"

Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) hurled an expletive at Dr. Anthony Fauci during a hearing Wednesday on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in which the infectious disease expert invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The Ohio Republican said he decided to run for office after hearing about a woman being arrested at a middle school football game in Ohio in 2020 for refusing to wear a mask, violating the school's policy at the time.

"Here I am sitting in front of you six years later, saying, who the fuck do you think you were for doing that?" he said, seemingly drawing a connection between Dr. Fauci's advocacy for masks at the start of the pandemic and the school's policy.

"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, the United States of America watch the clips of every one of you doting on a guy who is more interested in being a celebrity than saving American people."

In his opening statement, Dr. Fauci said he would refuse to answer the committee's questions, citing Chair Rand Paul's (R-KY) "obvious obsession" with calling for his prosecution, his "repeated slanderous comments" about him, and the Kentucky Republican's decision to publicly release his personal journal.

"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,'" he told senators. "Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion."

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