Key facts
- Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a Senate hearing.
- Fauci accused Senator Rand Paul of having an "unhinged obsession" with him.
- Fauci stated he was acting on the advice of his attorneys.
- Senator Rand Paul threatened repercussions for Fauci's refusal to testify.
- Fauci declined to answer questions about gain-of-function research and NIH coordination with intelligence agencies.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key adviser to President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions at a Senate hearing. Fauci accused Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who called the hearing, of leading a years-long investigation into him with an "unhinged obsession" aimed at "embarrassing and intimidating me."
Fauci stated that under the advice of his attorneys, he would refrain from answering questions. He specifically declined to answer queries about whether the National Institutes of Health (NIH) ever funded gain-of-function research on monkeypox or conducted research in coordination with intelligence agencies. Senator Paul became visibly agitated by Fauci's refusal to answer, at one point threatening "repercussions" and having one of Fauci's attorneys removed from the hearing room.
Paul, who chairs the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs, has characterized his investigation as looking into "the origins of Covid-19 and risky taxpayer-funded life science research." Scientists, however, have described Paul's investigation as "vilification and harassment" of Fauci, who led NIAID for 38 years before retiring in 2022. The hearing comes after Paul released a document described as Fauci's "diary," containing over 1,100 pages of entries, including those about Trump, whom Fauci described as "rambling," "crazy," and "an idiot."