Fauci was scheduled to testify before a Senate committee on Wednesday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the US response during the COVID-19 pandemic, invoked the Fifth Amendment amid plans to testify before the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) on Wednesday and will refrain from answering questions.
The committee is chaired by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has long accused Fauci of deceiving Americans about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul was expected to focus on Fauci’s private journal entries between December 2019 and December 2022.
Dr. Anthony Fauci waits for the start of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 29, 2026.
Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images
«It pains me to do so because of the respect that I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades long record of cooperating with Congress, 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 during his opening statement.
Popular Reads
Fauci said he testified before or briefed congressional committees over 200 times in his 38 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
«Given Senator Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, 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 that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,'» Fauci said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
