Dr Anthony Fauci faces contempt finding after pleading Fifth Amendment on COVID-19 origins
Updated ,first published
Washington: Former US chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci faces a charge of contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about the origins of the pandemic at a heated public hearing and invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.
Fauci, the infectious diseases expert who helped guide the US through the pandemic (first under Donald Trump and then Joe Biden), was called to provide evidence on long-held claims that US-funded research in Wuhan led to the outbreak of the virus.
She accused Rand Paul, the 85-year-old Republican committee chairman who is retiring in 2022, of having an “incredible obsession” with her. He made a brief opening statement and then refused to answer any questions, including the day of the week or the color of his tie.
Fauci said of Paul: “The only reason he called me before this committee was to get me to say something — anything — that might vindicate his repeated public commitments that I would be, in his words, ‘behind bars.'” said Fauci.
“Therefore, although it pains me… on the advice of my attorneys, I will exercise my right under the Fifth Amendment to not answer your questions.”
Republican lawmakers still tried to question Fauci for the next three hours, causing him to defend Fifth at every turn. Fox News reported that the amendment had been invoked 111 times.
The high-profile hearing came just two days after Paul, Fauci’s longtime congressional foe, released more than 1,000 pages from the doctor’s personal diary during the pandemic.
The articles painted a picture of a health bureaucrat who, among other things, had become the public face of the epidemic, meticulously monitoring his media appearances and how he was portrayed in various TV, newspaper and magazine profiles.
“The situation regarding my national and international fame is explosive and truly unimaginable,” he wrote, following a “very flattering” front-page article about himself. Washington Post In May 2020.
“This is not a hyperbola [sic] To say that I am the most famous, most talked about and most well-known person in the country today. [sic] In the world.”
Fauci’s diary also included demonstrations in Australia 60 Minutes and a discussion with Doherty Institute director Sharon Lewin, who “said I was a ‘household name’ in Australia.”
In late October 2020, as Melbourne emerged from its record-breaking COVID lockdown, Fauci praised the actions of then-Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.
“Australians experienced zero new infections in the entire city of Melbourne yesterday, proving that pure public health measures like mandatory mask-wearing ($1000.00 fine) and avoiding crowds really do work,” Fauci wrote on October 27, 2020.
The main purpose of Paul’s committee hearing, five years after the pandemic subsided, was to question Fauci about U.S. government-funded research at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, where some believe COVID-19 emerged.
For years, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded grants to the New York nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance; that organization used some of the funds to help conduct “gain of function” research at Chinese laboratories studying coronaviruses commonly carried by bats.
Gain-of-function research is the practice of developing a virus in the laboratory to study its potential effects in the real world. It includes general research as well as particularly risky experiments.
Fauci and the NIH have long maintained that the viruses studied using EcoHealth Alliance funding are genetically distinct from the virus that causes COVID-19, including in private journal entries. During Wednesday’s hearing, Paul accused Fauci of semantics.
“When you defended this research, you defined its benefits in the broadest terms,” he said. “But when Congress demanded accountability, you hid behind the narrowest possible definition. You can’t have it both ways.”
At one point, one of Fauci’s lawyers, David Schertler, attempted to speak from the witness table on behalf of his client, which led Paul to eventually order Fauci out of the room.
“You are appealing the case. You are not recognized, sir,” Paul said. “Security, please take him out of the room.” Some people in the gallery applauded, and Schertler was escorted out by a security guard.
Paul promised there would be “repercussions” for Fauci not answering questions. The libertarian-leaning Republican senator has for years accused Fauci of lying to Congress about NIH funding for coronavirus research and called for his impeachment.
In his opening remarks, Fauci noted that he had briefed or testified before Congress “more than 200 times” during his 38 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
This included numerous engagements during and after the pandemic, including “multiple days of transcribed interviews answering questions related to the issues currently the subject of this hearing.”
Before leaving office in 2025, Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci for any crimes he may have committed in the course of his official duties between Jan. 1, 2014, and Jan. 19, 2025, Biden’s final day.
Paul argued that the pardon nullifies Fauci’s capacity to defend the Fifth. During Wednesday’s hearing, Paul specifically asked Fauci whether he had destroyed any federal records during the amnesty period or instructed others to do so. Fauci also asked Fifth this question.
Paul said the committee will vote next week on whether to find Fauci disrespectful. “He invoked a privilege that was not supported by his general amnesty, and he initially waived that privilege by testifying.”
The Justice Department will then decide whether to bring criminal charges through a grand jury. “All I can do is recommend prosecution,” Paul told reporters.
Democrats defended Fauci. Gary Peters, the committee’s top Democrat, said Wednesday’s hearing was a witch hunt, an abuse of congressional power and a relitigation of the past.
“Unilateral investigations designed to confirm predetermined conclusions do not serve the American people,” he said.
After Wednesday’s hearing, Republicans criticized Fauci.
“[During the pandemic] There was no camera he couldn’t find. There is no interview he cannot give. “He can’t micromanage American life,” said Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
“Today, when the country finally demanded answers, the man who never stopped talking suddenly went silent.”
“No honest person would defend the Fifth,” said Republican senator Josh Hawley, who tried to get Fauci to answer questions about the color of his tie or the carpet in front of him.
Trump said on Truth Social that he warned Biden at the time that Fauci was “either clueless or dishonest.” Trump said Biden “gave Fauci tremendous destructive power.” “The rest is history!”
with AP
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Michael Koziol is the North America correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. He is a former Sydney editor, Sun-Herald deputy editor and a federal political correspondent in Canberra.Connect with: X or email.
