Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions at GOP-led Covid hearing, calls Rand Paul ‘unhinged’

In his opening statement, the former top health official accused Sen. Rand Paul of having an “unhinged obsession” with him and wanting him put “behind bars.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer senators’ questions at a contentious hearing Wednesday on the origins of Covid and the government’s handling of the pandemic, saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right to avoid the possibility that Republicans would use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

The surprise decision set the stage for a hyperpartisan hearing that yielded no new revelations about the origins of the coronavirus or the government response to the pandemic. But the absence of Fauci’s testimony presented plenty of opportunities for Republicans and Democrats to put forth dueling narratives about those issues — and about Fauci himself.

Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee used their allotted time to criticize Fauci’s recommendations during the Covid pandemic, accusing Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, of providing harmful advice on issues such as lockdowns and of lacking candor about the origins of the coronavirus.

Democrats came to Fauci’s defense, painting the hearing as a Republican-led effort to entrap him into committing perjury and using their time to focus criticism on the Trump administration’s healthcare policies.

After Fauci had invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., said as the hearing ended that he would call for a vote to hold him in contempt of Congress. He said after the hearing that the committee would vote on the issue next week.