Former White House Covid czar Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment during a Wednesday Senate hearing to avoid answering questions about his corrupt mishandling of the pandemic. The moment came days after the release of the former health official’s diaries, which documented his self-aggrandizing behavior, collusion with corporate media, and several falsehoods he told the public.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution,” Fauci said when pressed by Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about his conduct.
During his opening statement, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director attacked committee Chair Rand Paul, R-Ky., for criticizing his misstatements and conduct over the course of the Covid outbreak. He claimed the Kentucky senator has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution,” and that the “only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something — anything — that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words — quote — ‘behind bars.'”
Paul said throughout his remarks that Fauci owes the American public an apology for his and his now-former agency’s role in approving funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. As Federalist Senior Contributor Helen Raleigh previously reported, the nongovernmental organization EcoHealth Alliance sent “more than half a million dollars’ worth of U.S. government grants [from 2014-2020], including those from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with Anthony Fauci’s approval, to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to conduct gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses.”
“The American people deserve answers,” Paul said. “The American people deserve to know why dangerous research was funded by NIAID in a totalitarian country in a lab that lacked acceptable safety standards.”
[READ: Fauci Toadies Privately Called Lab Leak Theory ‘Highly Likely’ While Publicly Shutting It Down]
Wednesday’s hearing also started with its share of fireworks.
Following multiple disruptions, Paul had one of Fauci’s attorneys removed from the forum. The Kentucky senator gave the lawyer multiple warnings to sit down and be quiet before he called on security to remove the individual from the room.
[READ: 10 Questions For Congress To Ask Fauci About His Covid Corruption And Coverup
Paul indicated that the committee will examine what actions it may take in response to Fauci’s refusal to testify.
“The committee will have to consider after this hearing what appropriate action should be taken against you for the failure to testify after being directed to do so,” Paul told Fauci. “It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today.”
[RELATED: 6 Years Later, Fauci’s Diary Confirms The Federalist Was Right About Everything]
