Dr. Anthony Fauci said that he is invoking the Fifth Amendment Tuesday before Congress as the Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee investigates the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee is led by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is known for clashing with Fauci.
"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, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote," Fauci said.
At the start of Wednesday's hearing, Paul wasted little time lambasting Fauci's approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, claiming that Fauci ordered staff to delete records and cover up evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a lab leak.
"Instead of an apology, you have for years avoided responsibility," Paul said.
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On Jan. 20, 2025, the final day of the Biden administration, President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Fauci, despite having never been charged with a crime.
Fauci was a leading figure in the United States’ response to COVID-19 under both President Donald Trump and Biden. He served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 through the end of 2022. He also served as Biden’s chief medical adviser from the start of Biden’s term in 2021 through the end of 2022.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Paul released more than 1,100 pages of documents that include Fauci’s personal notes. The notes provide insight into Fauci’s thoughts as the pandemic unfolded.
Paul has argued the documents show Fauci knew COVID-19 originated in a lab in Wuhan, China, that received partial U.S. funding. Fauci has repeatedly said a lab leak is unlikely.
In 2025, the World Health Organization issued a report that listed a lab leak as one possible scenario, adding that how COVID-19 entered the human population “will remain inconclusive.” The report said zoonotic transmission — possibly from bats or an intermediate host to humans — was the more likely explanation.
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"I Inherited Fauci, who was there since the 1980’s, but with each passing day, relied less and less on him," Trump wrote Wednesday morning. "He made too many bad calls, like on MASKS. Remember at the beginning he was an anti-masker. He then switched to a super-masker. In any event I didn’t let him shut the Country down, although he wanted to. I went the Federalist way, and let the governors decide."
