Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth in Rand Paul’s COVID hearing, and he says it’s because of Paul’s ‘obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution’

Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, refusing to answer questions posed by the committee chair, Sen. Rand Paul, The Hill reported. This move signals a major escalation in the long-standing tension between the two, as they have spent years clashing during various congressional appearances.

Fauci made his position clear during his opening remarks. He directly criticized what he described as Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for his prosecution. According to Fauci, the entire purpose of the hearing was not a legitimate inquiry, but rather an attempt to trap him into making statements that could support the senator’s repeated public pledges to see him behind bars.

Fauci stated, “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.'”

Fauci further explained that he felt he had no choice but to remain silent

He noted, “Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.” Even though he expressed a desire to maintain his history of cooperating with legislative bodies, he stated that he would rely on his Fifth Amendment right to refrain from answering.

As the hearing progressed, Paul focused his questioning on gain-of-function research. He argued that this research, which he claims Fauci supported, could have contributed to a lab leak that led to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci declined to answer every single question. Paul responded by asserting that the committee had denied the assertion of privilege and directed Fauci to answer, though Fauci stood firm.

Paul warned that the committee would need to consider appropriate actions for what he called a failure to testify, noting that it is against the law to obstruct a congressional investigation and promising there would be repercussions for the refusal.

The situation became even more chaotic when one of Fauci’s attorneys, David Schertler, attempted to defend the decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Paul immediately moved to silence him, warning that he was being disruptive and threatening to have him removed if he remained unruly. Paul stated, “You’re not recognized. If you are unruly, you will be removed from the proceeding.” He also criticized the attorney for sitting at the table after being told not to, emphasizing that he was not invited to provide testimony.

When committee ranking member Gary Peters attempted to yield his own time so that Schertler could speak, Paul refused the request. The tension continued to mount during a heated back-and-forth between the members and the attorney. Eventually, the situation reached a breaking point when Schertler was escorted out of the room by a Capitol Police officer.