Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions during a tense Senate hearing focused on the federal government’s response to COVID-19 and the origins of the virus.
Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29. Under the advice of his attorneys, he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
In his opening statement, Fauci accused committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul of having an “unhinged obsession” with him. He said Paul’s goal was to get him to say something that could support the senator’s previous statements that Fauci should end up “behind bars.”
Paul and other Republican lawmakers have questioned Fauci for years about federal funding connected to virus research, pandemic restrictions and the government’s handling of COVID-19. Fauci has denied accusations that he was responsible for the pandemic.
Paul argued that Fauci should be required to answer the committee’s questions and said members would consider holding him in contempt. Democrats on the committee criticized the hearing as a political attempt to blame Fauci for the country’s pandemic response.
Invoking the Fifth Amendment does not establish guilt. It allows a person to refuse to answer questions when the responses could potentially be used against them in a criminal case.