FORMER top US health official Dr Anthony Fauci repeatedly refused to answer questions during a tense Senate hearing on the Covid-19 pandemic, invoking the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times after saying he feared his testimony could be used against him in potential perjury proceedings.
Fauci, 85, who previously led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security that he was exercising his constitutional right after consulting his legal advisers.
"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," the BBC reported him saying.
The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being compelled to provide testimony that could be used against them in criminal proceedings. Invoking the right does not represent an admission of guilt.
Fauci said he had previously testified before Congress on Covid-19 and its origins but expressed concern that Republican lawmakers were seeking statements that could expose him to prosecution.
He accused Republican Senator Rand Paul, who chaired the hearing, of having an "obvious obsession" with pursuing legal action against him.
"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, a Kentucky senator and former eye surgeon, continued questioning Fauci despite his refusal to respond and repeatedly called on him to apologise.
He also said the committee would vote next week on a resolution seeking to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
Republican lawmakers questioned Fauci over changes in public health guidance during the pandemic, arguing that shifting recommendations on issues such as Covid transmission and prevention reflected failures in communication.
Fauci has previously defended the changes, saying health recommendations evolved as scientists gained more understanding of the virus.
During the hearing, one of Fauci’s lawyers, David Schertler, repeatedly attempted to intervene during questioning by Paul and was removed from the room.
Schertler later criticised the move, calling it "outrageous" for Paul to exclude legal counsel while making what he described as a legitimate legal argument.
"It proves the baseless and vindictive nature of this proceeding and Rand Paul's personal vendetta against Dr Fauci," he said.
President Donald Trump also criticised Fauci during the hearing, describing him as "crazy" in a social media post and renewing claims that Covid-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
"I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China," Trump said.
The origins of Covid-19 remain a subject of debate, with competing theories including natural transmission from animals and the possibility of a laboratory-related incident.
The World Health Organization said last year that the natural-origin theory remained the "best supported" explanation based on available evidence, although it said the matter remained inconclusive without further information.
Paul has repeatedly supported the lab-leak theory and argued during the hearing that Fauci privately considered the possibility of a laboratory origin while publicly favouring a natural explanation.
Earlier this week, Paul released excerpts from Fauci’s pandemic-era diary entries, which showed that Fauci initially considered multiple possibilities regarding the virus’s origins before becoming more convinced of a natural origin.
In one entry from February 2020, Fauci wrote that scientists involved in discussions about Covid-19 did not have "total agreement" on where the virus came from.
He later wrote that he was "almost certain that the virus evolved naturally from a species jump, even though… I keep an open mind about the possibility of a lab leak".
"[J]ust because two alternatives are possible that does not mean that they are equally probable," Fauci wrote.
The hearing drew further political reaction, with Republican Senator Ron Johnson saying he intended to pursue a subpoena to compel Fauci to answer questions.
Florida’s Republican attorney general also announced plans to open an investigation into Fauci.
Democrats defended the former health official, with Senator Maggie Hassan accusing Republicans of conducting a hearing designed to "entrap" him.
Fauci, who became one of the most recognisable figures in the US pandemic response, has faced death threats during and after the coronavirus crisis.
Although he frequently clashed with Trump over pandemic policies, the former president awarded Fauci a presidential commendation in 2021 for his role in the US vaccine initiative Operation Warp Speed. - July 30, 2026
