Anthony Fauci invokes 5th Amendment right not to testify at Covid hearing, calls Sen. Rand Paul ‘unhinged’ - NBC News

What the report says

NBC News reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday on Covid-19’s origins and the federal pandemic response, invoking his Fifth Amendment right. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said through his prepared remarks that he acted on legal advice because he believed Republicans could try to use his testimony as the basis for a perjury case.

The hearing, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., quickly became a partisan confrontation. NBC reported that Republicans criticized Fauci’s pandemic guidance, including on lockdowns, and accused him of being evasive about questions tied to virus research and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci has previously denied Paul’s allegations that he lied to Congress. Democrats defended Fauci, describing the proceeding as an attempt to trap him legally and shifting some criticism toward Trump administration health policies.

According to NBC, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, repeating a version of the same response to questions. Paul said at the end of the hearing that he would seek a committee vote next week on holding Fauci in contempt of Congress. Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, was removed from the room after trying to address senators, and later told NBC that Fauci had a valid constitutional privilege.

The dispute matters because congressional scrutiny of the pandemic response remains politically charged years after the emergency phase of Covid-19. NBC noted that former President Joe Biden had issued pre-emptive pardons for Fauci and others, while Fauci’s legal team viewed new testimony as still potentially risky because Republicans had suggested the pardon might not cover future statements.