It was an interesting display of contempt for Senator Rand Paul exhibited by Anthony Fauci: having initially agreed to testify before the committee chaired by Paul only to change his mind, Fauci was hit with a subpoena. The main focus of the inquiry was Fauci’s public and private contrary views concerning the COVID-19 pandemic’s origin. Fauci refused to testify, claiming the Fifth Amendment—a plea which Paul reported to be invalid.
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Paul opened the hearing with a list of reasons why a subpoena mandating Fauci’s testimony on the matter was warranted. He stated millions of American lives were lost due to COVID-19; that the American people had a right to know why dangerous research was funded by NIAID in a foreign country’s lab that lacked acceptable safety standards; and why Fauci steadfastly held to the public position the pandemic was not an accidental release from China’s Wuhan lab but a natural evolution. He did so while privately holding “a mountain of evidence” supporting the former—later even acknowledging it in his diary—over the latter.
In making his opening statement detailing his past testimonies, Fauci ended his comments with the following allegation:
[G]iven 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, ‘Behind bars.’
[snip]
[A]lthough it pains me to do so because of the respect 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’s accusation was show rather than substance. He sought to hide the real reason for refusing to testify. But first, it is worth exploring the fate Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, suffered during the hearing.
It had been made clear to Schertler he should not sit at the witness table with Fauci or in any way disrupt the hearing. However, he did sit with Fauci and later sought to speak. Paul’s repeated warnings to Schertler fell on deaf ears, and Paul finally ordered the attorney’s removal by security—an action many of those present applauded.
Turning to Fauci’s Fifth Amendment claim, it was an interesting tact in view of President Joe Biden’s blanket pardon covering all his federal conduct between 2014–2025. It should have given Fauci the comfort to speak truthfully. Failing to do so, Paul noted Fauci had “zero legal justification” to make the claim, adding:
It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today. The chairman has denied your assertion of privilege and directed you to answer, but you nonetheless refuse and stand on privilege despite the existence of the pardon.
Fauci’s opening statement claimed Paul released the diary entries—a mindblowing 1,141 long—specifically to embarrass and intimidate him. But why would Fauci be embarrassed about the diaries?
Diary entries are much more forthcoming and truthful than a diarist’s public comments on any issue. Realistically, such entries are nothing other than conversations with oneself—one for whom no need exists to deceive.
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Fauci’s diary clearly revealed this. His initial entries about President Donald Trump were positive, later turning negative. However, it took longer for Fauci to publicly criticize a president he unhesitantly chastised in his diary.
The main reason Fauci took the Fifth was best reflected in the warning given before the hearing by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY). He advised that, despite Biden’s pardon before leaving office, it would not shield him were Fauci to lie to Congress during his scheduled upcoming testimony.
Fauci was in an obvious quandary due to the subpoena. It was underscored by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) who said, “I think it would be almost impossible for you to answer the questions truthfully without really demonstrating what you did.”
Had Fauci given truthful testimony on July 30, it would have revealed his untruthfulness at some prior point as director of the NIAID. His public position concerning the source of COVID-19’s release was at odds with his diary position. So, was it his public or his private position that was a lie? He could not have it both ways. And that then would lead to pursuing why he chose to divert attention away from the lab-leak theory. With more and more evidence coming to light over the past few years, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has come to believe the science which he acknowledges leads directly to the door of the Wuhan lab.
Had Fauci been open to questioning, there is another issue that would raise his sensitivity. He had gotten the COVID-19 vaccine, experiencing a major reaction to it. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy reported that Fauci did suffer a dangerous reaction to it, but Fauci never admitted so publicly.
While serving as head of NIAID, at an annual salary of $434,000, Fauci was the highest paid U.S. government employee, earning even more than the president did. At the time of his retirement in December of 2022, he was worth $11 million and entitled to an annual pension of $350,000.
Due to the tremendous responsibility Fauci had in that position, his expertise, supposedly, was worth every penny. Sadly however, he fails to recognize that with such responsibility comes accountability to answer to the American people his rationale for making the decisions he did. With his presidential pardon in hand, there is no need to fear telling the truth now but he hesitates to do so as it would deflate the image both he and the American people have about him.
In his opening statement, Fauci claimed despite “the respect I have for the legislative branch of the federal government,” he was taking the Fifth. Obviously, he has little respect for the American people by failing to embrace accountability.
Ironically, had Fauci not thought so much about himself in writing his diary, he may have gotten away with claiming Paul was obsessed with prosecuting him. However, his diary entries underscore the fact that Fauci’s worst nightmare is Fauci.
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Image generated by ChatGPT.