Dr. Fauci invokes his Fifth Amendment right not to testify at Senate hearing
Source: NBC News Politics · Bias: Center Left
Summary
During his opening statement, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right and will refrain from answering questions from Senators in their probe of his Covid pandemic response.
Dr. Fauci invokes his Fifth Amendment right not to testify at Senate hearing
Center Left
During his opening statement, Dr. Anthony Fauci said he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right and will refrain from answering questions from Senators in their probe of his Covid pandemic response.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, ordered security to remove one of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s attorneys from the committee’s hearing room on Wednesday after the longtime infectious disease expert invoked his Fifth Amendment right. The attorney attempted to speak several times, but Paul would not officially recognize…
One of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s lawyers was removed from a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing Tuesday morning after failing to remain silent despite Sen. Rand Paul‘s (R-KY) refusal to recognize him. Paul, the committee chairman, had the lawyer removed after a back-and-forth between the two after the lawyer interrupted during questioning about […]
Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) accused the GOP chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security of “relitigating the past” with his decision to call Dr. Anthony Fauci before Congress on Wednesday to testify about his oversight of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic response. Peters, the ranking member on the committee, questioned Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) over…
Dr. Anthony Fauci started off with a good relationship with President Trump but eventually came to believe he was an “obnoxious adolescent,” according to excerpts of his diary released by Republican Senator Rand Paul, the head of the Senate Homeland Security Committee.The released diary entries start from December 2019, right before the Covid-19 outbreak, and continue to December 2022, when Fauci left his position as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Paul released over 1,000 pages from the diary as part of an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, which Paul claims came from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China.The diary doesn’t have any kind of smoking gun on Covid’s origins, but it does show an inside view of different moments of the pandemic, as well as how Trump mishandled it. Fauci wrote glowingly about how he met Trump on January 29, 2020, in the White House Situation Room, and the president told him, “Anthony, you are really a famous guy. My good friend Lou Dobbs told me that you were one of the smartest, knowledgeable and outstanding persons he knows.”“He then stayed for 20 minutes and asked most of his questions of me. I was surprised and very pleased and the deputies were clearly stunned and impressed,” Fauci wrote. He added that Trump thanked him after the meeting, telling him, “We are counting on you.”Fauci’s entries show how Trump’s actions over the course of the pandemic quickly changed his mind. After a March 2020 press conference, Fauci complained about how Trump “wasted the opportunity to just focus on the relief package and went into his diatribe against previous administrations.”Later, in August, Fauci wrote that he had a hard time explaining to Trump that increased testing did not increase Covid cases.“All in all it was a manifestation that he is desperate and still does not understand the pandemic. Very interesting encounter,” Fauci wrote.In November, Trump was angry at Fauci for a Washington Post report where Fauci said that Joe Biden’s campaign was “taking [the pandemic] seriously from a public health perspective,” while Trump was more concerned about the economy and reopening the country. Trump called Fauci and let loose.“Tony, I really like you, and you know that, but what the f—k are you doing? You constantly drop bombs on me. Everybody wants me to fire you, but I am not going to fire you, you have too illustrious of a career, but you have to be positive,” Trump said on the call, according to Fauci.“I like you but so many people, not only in the White House, but throughout the country hate you because of what you are doing.… And that f—ker Biden. He is so f—king stupid. You are 10 times smarter than he is. I am going to kick his f—king ass in this election. I will win by a landslide. Just wait and see.… Tony, you have to be positive. I do not want to keep you off TV, but when you are out there, you have to be positive.”By March 2021, as vaccines became publicly available, Fauci called Trump an “obnoxious adolescent.”Looking at these diary entries, it’s obvious that Fauci was simply trying to do his job in the face of an obstinate president, and wasn’t the devious or negligent mastermind that conspiracy theorists in the Republican Party make him out to be. They should be more concerned that Trump is back in power and can’t be trusted if a new pandemic arises.
President Trump slammed Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday, not long before the former White House chief medical adviser began his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “Many more people died of Covid under the Biden Administration than under the Trump Administration,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “‘Operation Warp Speed’ was a SPECTACULAR…
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had Dr. Anthony Fauci's attorney physically removed from a Senate hearing Wednesday after the lawyer defied his order to leave the witness table.Fauci appeared before Paul's Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed by the Kentucky Republican.Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment — the constitutional right against self-incrimination — and refused to answer a single question.Paul had asked whether Fauci had changed his view on gain-of-function research, the practice of enhancing viruses in a lab to study how they might spread or cause disease. Fauci wouldn't bite."On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution," Fauci told the panel."There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today," Paul shot back.Then Paul turned his attention to Fauci's attorney, David Schertler, who was seated at the witness table despite being told to sit in the row behind it, NBC News reported."You're not recognized! If you are unruly, you will be removed from the proceeding! You are not recognized, sir! Sir, you are not recognized. You are not recognized! Security!" Paul shouted."You were told not to sit at the table. You insist on sitting at the table, and we told you you would not be recognized," Paul continued."Would you behave this way in a courtroom? No! Because the judge would put you in jail! I can't do that today, but I can have you escorted from the premises," he added.Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), the committee's ranking Democrat, pushed back."Mr. Chairman, I'd like to hear what the attorney has to say," Peters said."He is not recognized by the committee or the chair. If he speaks again, he will be removed from the room!" Paul fired back.Schertler spoke again."This is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered — for a lawyer not listening to the rules. That's the way you want to be remembered, and that's what you're going to do. You are not recognized, sir! Security, please remove him from the room!" Paul declared.Security escorted Schertler from the room.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the nation's infectious disease efforts during the pandemic, invoked the Fifth Amendment on Wednesday and declined to answer questions from a Senate committee investigating the origins of COVID-19.Why it matters: Fauci said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the head of the Senate homeland security committee, was trying to get him to say something that could put him in legal jeopardy.Former President Biden gave Fauci a preemptive pardon before leaving office, but Fauci argues he could be in trouble if he makes any statements that could open new lines of investigation for the committee.What he's saying: Paul has an "unhinged obsession with me," and his motive for the hearing 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 unquote," Fauci said."Although it pains me to do so … under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions," Fauci said.The other side: "There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today," Paul told Fauci.This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
