Senators object as Fauci pleads the Fifth in COVID hearing

Former White House medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination during a Wednesday hearing, drawing the ire of some of his questioners. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called the move illegal, citing an 1896 Supreme Court decision. The 19th-century precedent barred anyone with a federal or state pardon from using the Fifth Amendment, Hawley said. Before President Joe Biden left office, he issued a preemptive and unconditional pardon to Fauci.

Hawley referenced the 1896 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Walker, which determined that anyone who accepted a pardon surrendered their Fifth Amendment rights against testifying against oneself in court. The high court deemed that anyone protected under a federal or state pardon lost the constitutional right of refusing to answer. Despite Hawley’s objection, Fauci refused to yield from his Fifth Amendment stance.

Did Fauci speak at all? Fauci delivered an opening statement and characterized Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., as being obsessed with prosecuting him. Paul called Fauci to testify in hopes that the former Biden adviser would say something on record to justify an arrest, the immunologist said. After opening remarks, Fauci did not answer a single question during the entirety of the almost three-hour hearing.

Democratic committee members viewed the hearing as an attempt to entrap Fauci, part of what they called a smear campaign and the Trump administration’s plan to destroy the American healthcare system. They repeatedly thanked Fauci for his service to the American people.

How did the hearing end? Due to Fauci’s refusal to answer, the committee planned to meet next week to vote on a resolution placing Fauci in contempt. Paul concluded that, though he may believe he’d gotten away with it, history will judge Fauci. 

What is Fauci being accused of? Republican lawmakers accused Fauci of inappropriately gathering over a million dollars of personal wealth during the pandemic. By 2022, Fauci’s yearly federal salary of over $480,000 was higher than even that of the president of the United States, despite the 2022 federal salary cap at $176,300, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa., pointed out. Fauci got rich during the pandemic while the American people were dying, Hawley said.

Committee Chairman Paul opened the hearing by accusing Fauci of helping to produce the COVID-19 pandemic by funding Chinese research for virus mutations. Fauci then covered up his complicity, Paul alleged.

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., also probed at the immunologist’s overnight rise to fame over the virus. Fauci abandoned the American people and behaved appallingly, serving his own ego at photo shoots and fancy dinners. Fauci was hiding behind a fraudulent pardon, refusing to tell the truth or apologize to the American people, Scott said.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., questioned the validity of Fauci’s science around COVID-19 protocols and medications and claimed that American lives were ruined by the rushed coronavirus vaccines.

Lawmakers questioned Fauci about the National Institutes of Health’s funding of Chinese research and whether he ordered the destruction of COVID-19 documents. Committee members also questioned Fauci on his personal notes taken in early 2020 that recorded an awareness of the Wuhan lab’s coronaviruses being modified to recognize human cells. To each of these questions, and many others, Fauci responded that, on the advice of his counsel, he respectfully declined to answer based on his rights under the Fifth Amendment.