Senate Committee Questions Dr. Fauci on COVID‑19 Origins as He Cites Fifth Amendment

On Wednesday, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci declined to respond to questions from the Senate committee, repeatedly asserting his Fifth Amendment right against self‑incrimination before a panel dominated by hostile Republicans who accused him of engineering the coronavirus pandemic and implied he had profited while Americans perished.

Invoking counsel, he stated, “On the advice of counsel, I must respectfully decline to answer on the basis of my Fifth Amendment rights,” a phrase he repeated over one hundred times throughout the nearly three‑hour hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

The proceeding amounted to a blend of theatrical spectacle and a political Rorschach test, underscoring stark partisan divisions surrounding Dr. Fauci, a public‑health official with nearly four decades of service advising presidents from both parties and earning broad bipartisan respect until his pandemic response made him a polarizing figure.

Upon conclusion, Senator Rand Paul, the committee chair, announced that the panel would vote next week on whether to cite Dr. Fauci for contempt of Congress, arguing that he was not entitled to Fifth Amendment protection.

‘Did your actions contribute to the worst man‑made pandemic in history?’ Mr. Paul asked as the hearing drew to a close. ‘Are millions of deaths attributable to your experiments?’ Dr. Fauci exited the chamber stone‑faced, escorted by police officers.

Democrats lauded Dr. Fauci for his decades of public service and delivered remarks critical of the Trump administration’s health policies without posing questions. Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, opened by thanking Dr. Fauci — who joined the National Institutes of Health in 1968 — for “over 50 years of service to this country,” adding, “It must be terribly frustrating to realize this hearing appears aimed at ensnaring you.”

Republicans, led by Mr. Paul, portrayed him as a self‑absorbed individual allegedly responsible for every COVID death and adverse vaccine reaction, while mocking his invocation of the Fifth Amendment.

‘What day of the week is it today?’ Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, inquired, anticipating a Fifth Amendment refusal. ‘What color is your tie? What color is the carpet before you?’ Each time, Dr. Fauci responded with a brief, consistent answer.

Labeling Dr. Fauci “a megalomaniac and a liar,” Mr. Hawley further accused him of covertly profiting from public service by seeking cash prizes exceeding one million dollars. In 2021, the Israel‑based Dan David Foundation awarded Dr. Fauci $1 million for “defending science,” a fact widely covered at the time.

The session marked an intensification of a yearslong confrontation between Mr. Paul, an ophthalmologist, and Dr. Fauci. The Kentucky senator alleges that Dr. Fauci funded research in China that allegedly sparked the pandemic and subsequently misled Congress, accusations which Dr. Fauci categorically denies.

In a concise opening statement, Dr. Fauci — appearing under subpoena — remarked that he had testified before Congress over 200 times during his 38‑year tenure leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, including throughout the COVID‑19 pandemic.

‘Over that period, I have demonstrated my belief in and respect for legitimate congressional oversight,’ he said.

‘However,’ Dr. Fauci added, “given Senator Paul’s apparent obsession with seeking my prosecution, his repeated disparaging remarks, and the recent public release of my unredacted personal diary intended to embarrass and intimidate me, the only conclusion I can draw is that his sole purpose in summoning me is to force me to utter something that could substantiate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’

Dr. Fauci received a pre‑emptive pardon from President Joseph R. Biden Jr., which shields him from federal prosecution for actions taken up to the pardon’s issuance on January 19, 2025.

Mr. Paul told Dr. Fauci that he “cannot have it both ways” by refusing to testify while protected by the pardon. Nonetheless, legal experts noted that the pardon does not immunize him from accusations of perjury.

The session turned volatile early when Mr. Paul warned of “repercussions” for refusing to answer questions. When Dr. Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, attempted to speak on his client’s behalf, Mr. Paul interrupted him.

‘Another word and you’re gone!’ the senator retorted sharply. Despite continued remarks from Mr. Schertler, Mr. Paul ordered security to escort the lawyer out.

Over the weekend, Mr. Paul released over 1,100 pages of Dr. Fauci’s typewritten diary, which Republicans cited to resurrect longstanding controversies regarding the COVID response — including vaccine safety, the lab‑leak hypothesis, lockdown policies, and Dr. Fauci’s mask guidance.

‘Frankly, the American people deserve an apology,’ Mr. Paul asserted in his opening statement, accusing Dr. Fauci of “saying one thing publicly and another privately,” a reference to the diary contents.

Except for courteous questioning from Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, Republicans subjected Dr. Fauci to harsh, personal scrutiny. Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, claimed that Dr. Fauci alone bore responsibility for COVID lockdowns, fatalities, vaccine injuries, and the erosion of public trust in health institutions.

‘The haphazard information you released and pushed on the American people with little research is appalling,’ Mr. Scott declared, adding, “You compelled loved ones to die alone and eroded the federal government’s credibility in public health.”

The pandemic unfolded as a rapidly moving crisis, and Dr. Fauci’s diary shows that he and fellow scientists confronted an unprecedented, poorly understood virus with evolving science. Mr. Scott’s assertions starkly contrasted with Senator Lankford’s acknowledgment that the pandemic represented ‘uncharted territory.’

At the heart of Mr. Paul’s inquiry lies the question of whether the coronavirus emerged naturally, as Dr. Fauci maintains, or from a laboratory accident. Mr. Paul contends that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which Dr. Fauci directed from 1984 until his 2022 retirement, funded risky research in China that spiraled out of control and effectively created the pandemic virus, a claim Dr. Fauci denies.

That research, known as gain‑of‑function, entails modifying viral genetics to elucidate evolutionary mechanisms and inform pandemic prevention. On Tuesday, President Trump announced new restrictions on such work.

Although Dr. Fauci’s institute funded research at the Wuhan laboratory in China, the National Institutes of Health has repeatedly asserted that the viruses investigated with U.S. funds differ from the SARS‑CoV‑2 virus. Nevertheless, Mr. Paul contended that Dr. Fauci’s narrow definition of gain‑of‑function failed to capture the risks associated with the institute’s Wuhan work.

‘The American people aren’t seeking a semantic debate about the definition of gain‑of‑function,’ the senator said. ‘They are asking for common‑sense judgment about whether this research posed dangers in Wuhan.’

The panel’s senior Democrat, Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, accused Mr. Paul of conducting a politically motivated inquiry to “essentially legitimize a conclusion reached years ago.”

Dr. Fauci and Mr. Paul have contested each other for years. In 2021, when the senator accused Dr. Fauci of lying during Senate testimony, Dr. Fauci retorted, “If anyone is lying here, Senator, it is you.”

Mr. Schertler, Dr. Fauci’s attorney, issued a statement suggesting that the exchange “triggered” the senator’s campaign against his client, though he never delivered it because Mr. Paul barred him from speaking. Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, read portions of the statement into the record.

‘The accusations that Chairman Paul continues to propagate are false and disgraceful,’ the statement declared, “and we will explore all options to hold him accountable.”

Dr. Fauci has also clashed with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose 2021 book, *The Real Anthony Fauci*, alleged that Dr. Fauci colluded with Bill Gates and pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Kennedy promoted the book on social media following the hearing.

On Tuesday, Mr. Kennedy said he provided the diary to Mr. Paul, adding that the pages were “not personal journals” but rather “government records created on a government computer by a federal employee during one of the most consequential public health emergencies in history.”

Peter Staley, a longtime AIDS activist and close associate of Dr. Fauci, said he kept the diary to assist in writing a memoir he had already begun drafting when the pandemic emerged. The memoir, published in 2024, notes Dr. Fauci’s “astonishment at what was happening in his life.”

On Tuesday, a coalition of over 155 physicians, scientists, and public‑health advocates — organized by AIDS activists who collaborated with Dr. Fauci in the 1990s — issued a public letter defending him and condemning what they viewed as the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on science and scientists.

While the diary contributes little to the scientific debate on the lab‑leak theory, its entries contain personal observations in which Dr. Fauci marveled at his rising fame and celebrity connections, fodder for his critics. He described President Trump as “rambling.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump responded by posting a six‑year‑old video of Dr. Fauci throwing a wayward first pitch at a Washington Nationals game, proclaiming it “by far the worst throw I have ever seen in years of watching first pitches.”

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