The campaign against Fauci and what brought him back before Congress

Former top US health official Anthony Fauci has refused to answer questions at a tense US Senate hearing on Covid-19, saying he feared Republicans would try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury. He invoked the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution – which says nobody can be “compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself” – more than 100 times. Contradicting himself under oath could be legally perilous for him.

Fauci noted he had testified about Covid and its origin at several congressional hearings. Republicans have long accused Fauci of concealing information about the pandemic from the public and lying about its dangers. Fauci has called the allegations against him “simply preposterous” in previous testimony to lawmakers.

“Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government… under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the constitution to refrain from answering your questions,” said, Fauci, 85, former leader of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), at Wednesday’s hearing. Taking the Fifth is not an admission of guilt – it is designed to protect individuals against coercion, mistakes, and unfair shifting of the burden to provide proof of wrongdoing. While he was granted a pre-emptive pardon by former President Joe Biden, protecting him from federal prosecution for his actions between 2014-25, Fauci could still face charges for anything after that date, including in his actions towards the Senate committee.

He could also face state or local charges. In his statement to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security on Wednesday, Fauci said Republican Senator Rand Paul, who chaired the hearing, had an “obvious obsession” with prosecuting him and that had led Fauci to decline to answer questions. “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, ‘behind bars,'” Fauci said.

Paul, who worked as an eye surgeon before joining Congress, continued questioning Fauci despite his refusal to answer. The Kentucky senator repeatedly invited Fauci to “apologise” and said the committee would vote next week on a resolution holding him in cont… Anthony Fauci helped lead the White House pandemic response for Presidents Trump and Biden and is now retired from government service.

He appeared under congressional subpoena and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights more than 100 times during questioning. Amna Nawaz discussed the hearing and Fauci's legacy with Katherine Wu, who wrote "The Unmaking of Anthony Fauci" for The Atlantic.