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3h ago

Fauci Invokes Fifth Amendment at Senate COVID Hearing

Publication of roughly 1,100 pages of his pandemic-era diaries preceded his refusal to answer questions and prompted the committee to schedule a civil contempt vote next week.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, arrives to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 03, 2024 in Washington, DC.
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Committee Chairman US Sen Rand Paul (R-KY) is shown on a monitor as former NIH Director Anthony Fauci (L) testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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Overview

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer senators' questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment right during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, saying he acted on his lawyers' advice.
  • The hearing followed Senator Rand Paul's public release of about 1,100 pages of Fauci's pandemic-era diary entries, including a Jan. 26, 2020 note that called the Wuhan market an "amplifier" rather than the initial source of the virus.
  • Republicans, led by Paul, said they will seek a committee vote next week to hold Fauci in civil contempt after reports he invoked the Fifth more than 70 times, while Democrats and many scientists called the proceeding a partisan attack.
  • Fauci received a preemptive pardon from President Biden on Jan. 19, 2025 that covers his government service through that date, but Republicans argue it does not bar Congress from pursuing contempt or new legal avenues tied to fresh testimony.
  • The diary release and hearing have intensified political and legal fights but produced no new consensus on COVID-19's origin, with U.S. intelligence and scientists continuing to offer competing views and many experts warning the probe may deter public-health officials from service.