Fauci refuses to testify at Covid hearing, citing Fifth Amendment

Anthony Fauci refuses to testify before senators at a Covid origins and pandemic-response hearing Wednesday, saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right rather than answer questions, NBC News reported. Fauci said in prepared remarks that he feared Republicans could try to turn his testimony into the basis for a perjury case.

The move changed the course of a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee that was expected to be tense because of Fauci’s long-running public conflict with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the committee chairman. Fauci, the former top federal infectious disease official, has previously denied Paul’s allegation that he lied to Congress, according to NBC News.

Why did Fauci refuse to testify?

Fauci said he made the decision on the advice of his lawyers because he believed Paul was trying to put him in legal jeopardy. The Fifth Amendment protects people from being compelled to provide testimony that could incriminate them.

In his prepared statement, Fauci accused Paul of having an “obvious obsession” with seeking his prosecution, making what Fauci called slanderous remarks and publicly releasing his personal journal. Fauci said he believed Paul’s reason for summoning him was to create a record that could support Paul’s public calls for Fauci to end up “behind bars.”

Fauci said he respected Congress and had spent decades cooperating with lawmakers, according to NBC News. He added that he would still decline to answer questions because, in his view, any reasonable person who had watched Paul’s conduct would reach the same conclusion about the risk he faced.

What has Rand Paul said about Fauci?

Before the hearing, Paul raised the possibility that Fauci could face prosecution for perjury if he lied under oath, NBC News reported. Paul has said in the past that Fauci lied to Congress; Fauci has rejected that claim.

Asked Tuesday about criticism that he was trying to put Fauci in a position where he could perjure himself, Paul said there would be no risk if Fauci told the truth. Paul said Fauci could admit to past falsehoods, destroying records or failing to present both sides of an issue, and said the only thing Fauci could not do was lie again.

Paul also addressed whether Fauci should be prosecuted, saying there were “a couple of questions” and that the hearing would help answer them, according to NBC News. Paul referred to Fauci’s pardon and said he did not know whether it would be challenged.

What did Biden’s pardon cover?

Former President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Fauci in the final hours of his administration, NBC News reported. Fauci said at the time that he had been the target of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution.

Fauci also said then that he had “committed no crime.” NBC News described the hearing as a developing story.

This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.