Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment in Senate hearing on COVID

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday during a Senate hearing on COVID-19 invoked his constitutional right not to answer questions. "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer, based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the constitution," Fauci repeatedly said to questions posed by Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul. Paul, a doctor and Kentucky Republican, continued undeterred, continuing to ask Fauci such questions about so-called gain-of-function research, which helps scientists learn about the direction of a pathogen but also brings a high risk of it becoming widespread.

Posted by lfthndthrds at 09:25 AM | 55 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Under the current administration, Fauci has a reason to do so.

Fauci's attorneys probably have more sense than Dr. Sen. Rand Paul's lawyers. Let's not forget Sen. Paul's own history with scientific credibility.

www.cbsnews.com

FTA: "First some background: Paul's claim that he is a 'board-certified' ophthalmologist is tied to his certification by the National Board of Ophthalmology. Yet that's a group that Paul himself founded in 1999; he also serves as its head."

#1 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-29 09:46 AM | Reply

#1 | Posted by Dbt2 at 2026-07-29 09:46 AM | Reply | Flag:

Has nothing to do with why Fauci is pleading the 5th. But I do agree that his lawyers are smart in not letting him talk.

Didn't Fauci receive a pre-emptive pardon from Biden?

#2 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-07-29 09:55 AM | Reply

Didn't Fauci receive a pre-emptive pardon from Biden?

#2 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

Yes.

We're seeing why in real time.

Rand Paul---I can see why he got beaten up.

#3 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 10:01 AM | Reply

Didn't Fauci receive a pre-emptive pardon from Biden?

#2 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

Is Dr Fauci on the Presidents enemies list?

Then he is wise to take the 5th.

Everything he says can and WILL be used against him.

#4 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 10:01 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

I don't really know what to think of Fauci overall. There is a lot of negative ---- on him out there.

But......I don't think him taking the 5th is any evidence that he's hiding anything considering the hostility of the people coming after him.

#5 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-29 10:04 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

#2 | POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

Are you listening to Paul threatening Fauci with punishment for using his Constitutional rights?

Think about that.

#6 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 10:06 AM | Reply

My favorite Covid song.

Wuhan Flu Song
Sacha Baron Cohen

Obama was a traitor
America, he hate her
He belong inside the jails

Obama, what we gonna do?
Inject him with the Wuhan flu
Inject him with the Wuhan flu

Hillary Clinton, what we gonna do?
Lock her up like we used to do
Lock her up like we used to do

Fauci dunno his head from his ass
He must be smoking grass
He got locked up by a flu

I ain't lying, it ain't no jokes
Corona is a liberal hoax
Corona is a liberal hoax

Dr. Fauci, what we gonna do?
Inject him with the Wuhan flu
Inject him with the Wuhan flu

WHO, what we gonna do?
Chop 'em up like the Saudis do
Chop 'em up like the Saudis do

USA is the best
We don't need no COVID test
You're not gonna take my rights away

I don't care about your race
Take that mask off your commie face
Take that mask off your commie face

Liberals, what we gonna do?
Inject them with the Wuhan flu
Inject them with the Wuhan flu

#7 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 10:25 AM | Reply

Fauci and his little bitch JPW deserve the gallows.

#8 | Posted by fortfisher at 2026-07-29 10:31 AM | Reply

#8 | POSTED BY FORTFISHER

What's happening today is just another post hoc attempt to prove that Donald Trump was less than an eff up with COVID.

It's also an attempt to feed red meat to that already dying religion, MAGA.

Fauci came out looking better than Trump after COVID. There's no way in hell Trump can let that stand.

#9 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 10:37 AM | Reply

The only people that give a damn about confirmation that Fauci is a narcissistic ----- piece of ---- already knew that Fauci was a narcissistic ----- piece of ----.

#10 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 10:40 AM | Reply

#9 How does Fauci look now, after his diary has been published?

#11 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 10:42 AM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 1

#9 you're a fool STFU!

#12 | Posted by fortfisher at 2026-07-29 10:43 AM | Reply

Fauci is a narcissistic ----- piece of ----

#10 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

And Donald Trump is a........

#13 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 10:45 AM | Reply

How does Fauci look now, after his diary has been published?

#11 | POSTED BY VISITOR

What's the bad thing? I haven't read it so I'm relying on you. Unless you also haven't read it.

#14 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 10:47 AM | Reply

When Fauci declared that he was "Mr Science" he didn't even bother to set up his own board to certify it.

#15 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 10:48 AM | Reply

Since the thread link is a nothingburger joke, here's an actual article on topic:

"Paul has an "unhinged obsession with me," and his motive for the hearing 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.

"Although it pains me to do so ... 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.

"Paul also ordered Fauci's lawyer removed from the committee room for trying to speak.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said the hearing is part of a "campaign against science" that "has made this country less safe."

"If there are valid scientific questions about the origins of this pandemic ... they should certainly be addressed, but not in a show trial, not as part of a continuing vendetta against a single individual," Blumenthal said."

Excerpts, more on the far right Conspiracy Theory witch hunt at the link

www.axios.com

#16 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-29 10:49 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

#14 Gaslighter lite.

#17 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 10:49 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

How does Fauci look now, after his diary has been published?

#11 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

Congratulations!

Looks like you have found another perfectly imperfect human.

And you only had to steal and publish another personal dairy to do it.

#18 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 10:50 AM | Reply

When Fauci declared that he was "Mr Science" he didn't even bother to set up his own board to certify it.

#15 | POSTED BY VISITOR

Oh, my. That's terrifying.

What else you got?

#19 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 10:51 AM | Reply

"This funding sparked a fierce political and legal battle over whether the experiments technically qualified as "gain-of-function".

Senator Rand Paul has aggressively campaigned against former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, accusing him of funding dangerous "supervirus" engineering and trying to cover up a lab leak.

Dr. Fauci has consistently maintained that the NIH-funded research did not meet the strict regulatory definition of dangerous GoF enhancement, making a pandemic strain molecularly impossible to emerge from those specific trials."

www.google.com

Dopey OP.

#20 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-29 10:51 AM | Reply

Fauci aka "Mr. Science". The nation's "leading expert" in COVID contracted COVID 3 times after being vaccinated and boosted 6 times. He had a pulmonary embolism 6 months after his second Moderna shot. This was, of course, not publicized.

#21 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 10:56 AM | Reply

#21 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

Is your point that COVID shots kept Fauci from dying of COVID?

#22 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 11:01 AM | Reply

1 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

Is taking COVID shots the Very Bad Thing that Fauci did?

#23 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 11:03 AM | Reply

#21

Speaking of lame conspiracy theorists...

"There is no public or medical record showing that Dr. Anthony Fauci suffered a pulmonary embolism, and claims stating otherwise are unsubstantiated rumors.

The unverified claim regarding a pulmonary embolism appears to misinterpret or falsely connect unrelated historical news coverage, such as the federal pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in April 2021 due to extremely rare clotting events

.No credible or official documentation supports the assertion that Dr. Fauci experienced this specific medical event." per CBS news

www.google.com

There's a lot more proof that Trumpers will buh-lieve any idiotic thing their rwing media tells them... right, --------?

#24 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-29 11:03 AM | Reply

This was, of course, not publicized.

#21 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

Why should he share his personal private health issues with the public if it has nothing to do with public health?

It had nothing to do with his getting a vaccine in spite of your obvious attempt to associate it with the Covid vaccine.

#25 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 11:05 AM | Reply

The nation's "leading expert" in COVID contracted COVID 3 times after being vaccinated and boosted 6 times.

Did he get hospitalized? Did he die on a ventilator?

His job obviously brought him into contact with the disease multiple times and yet the vaccine appears to have worked as advertised for him. It kept him out of the hospital and off a ventilator.

#26 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 11:09 AM | Reply

#24 It's in his diary.

I want to know how reality distortion works when there is something on a page that conflicts with your closely held but unsubstantiated views. Like something negative about Fauci, do you see the words and your brain won't let you comprehend or does the page appear blank to your eyes? Does your brain alter the text and you see something completely different?

#27 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 11:15 AM | Reply

#27 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

Smoking gun?

#28 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 11:19 AM | Reply

27 | POSTED BY VISITOR

Smoke?

#29 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 11:23 AM | Reply

#24 It's in his diary.

"I want to know how reality distortion works.."

You know exactly how it works.

Taking personal musings from diaries and attempting to distort reality with them seems to be a hobby of yours.

#30 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 11:25 AM | Reply

27 | POSTED BY VISITOR

I'm looking at the behavior of the MAGA Congressmen. They're frothing because Fauci won't let them burn him at the stake.

I can only congratulate Dr. Fauci for handling them in the only way they could be handled.

#31 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 11:29 AM | Reply

And Donald Trump is a........

Liar
Traitor
Fascist
Dictator
Cheater
Philanderer
Convicted felon
Adjudicated rapist
Named more times in the Trumpstein files than Epstein
Business failure
Failed reality tv personality
Fraud
Narcissist
Sociopath
Sexual predator

Take your pick

#32 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-07-29 11:31 AM | Reply

The nation's "leading expert" in COVID contracted COVID 3 times after being vaccinated and boosted 6 times.

The COVID vaccine is effective at reducing the effects of COVID. It does not prevent you from getting it, it reduces the severity of the infection.

But idiots believe what they want irrespective of reality.

#33 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-07-29 11:34 AM | Reply

Visitor from Planet Trump, rofl!

It's a Facts Optional planet.

#34 | Posted by Corky at 2026-07-29 11:39 AM | Reply

This is all because Fauci made a face when trump said something stupid.

#35 | Posted by alexandrite at 2026-07-29 11:43 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

"Like something negative about Fauci, do you see the words and your brain won't let you comprehend or does the page appear blank to your eyes? Does your brain alter the text and you see something completely different?"

LOL

Like I said upthread, a lot of negative stuff on Fauci out there. A lot

But most of it is crap. What's relevant is a needle in a haystack almost nobody is interested in finding.

It's just this whole dynamic. Attack, defend, attack, defend, as if there is an obligation to do so.

Not my fight. Fauci is wisely taking the 5th but he'll get crucified for it in many circles.

#36 | Posted by eberly at 2026-07-29 11:44 AM | Reply

there is something on a page
#27 | Posted by visitor_

What is on the page?

Anyone know which Deplorable conspiracy theory Visitor_ is huffing today?

#37 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-07-29 11:45 AM | Reply

Republicans can lie with impunity while IN Congress but if Dr Fauci had misspoke or gotten a date or time or minor fact wrong when speaking to Congress he would have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law for it.

Isn't that interesting?

The Republicans were obviously not interested in getting any actual answers. I sure wouldn't have answered a single question under those conditions either. They were only there to spread more propaganda and misinformation.

How did anything they did today Glorify the Lord?

#38 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 11:47 AM | Reply

Fauci is wisely taking the 5th but he'll get crucified for it in many circles.

#36 | POSTED BY EBERLY

Like Dr Fauci really cares.

He is 85 years old and sitting on $12 million dollars.

#39 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 11:50 AM | Reply

Not my fight. Fauci is wisely taking the 5th but he'll get crucified for it in many circles.
#36 | Posted by eberly

It's a Republican fight, so yes. But anyway, the only circles Fauci is getting crucified in is the same ones he's already been crucified in several times.

This is just a rerun.

Televising reruns is what Republicans are doing instead of ending a pointless war that is lowering GDP by one percent or stopping ICE disrupting sending people to camps disrupting the workforce and lowering GDP by a percent.

#40 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-07-29 11:51 AM | Reply

Fauci invokes the 5th.

Good.

Rand Paul is a one trick performance monkey pretending to be some sort of medical expert. His state is one of the poorest, less educated and unhealty states in America and he does NOTHING to help them. Calling Randy a doctor is an insult to doctors everywhere.

Dr's I'd trust more than Rand Paul...

Dr. Fauci.
Dr. Vinny Boombatz.
Dr. Demento
Dr. Pepper
Dr. No
Dr. Nick Riviera
Dr. Kevorkian

#41 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-07-29 12:03 PM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 1

I would trust Dr Who for medical advice over Rand Paul.

#42 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 12:06 PM | Reply

Dr. Detroit. Don't forget him. Nothing can destroy the doctor.

#43 | Posted by NerfHerder at 2026-07-29 12:22 PM | Reply

I think Dr Demento always had good advice.

Stay demented!

#44 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-07-29 12:25 PM | Reply

This is all because Fauci made a face when trump said something stupid.

#35 | POSTED BY ALEXANDRITE

Yep.

#45 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 12:25 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

POSTED BY ALEXANDRITE

Donald Trump does not forget slights, neither does he forgive them. Nothing's too small to be grist for his mill, and he isn't happy until he's avenged it.

But then he's still unhappy, because he is mentally ill.

#46 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 12:56 PM | Reply

Fauci is proof of why we should not be governed by bureaucrat "experts".

#47 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-07-29 01:14 PM | Reply

Patricide Jeff claimed horse paste was a game changer.

#48 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-07-29 01:17 PM | Reply

Dr. Fauci followed Scientific Protocols.

He tried to help Americans, at a time in life when most people are Retired.

I personally don't Get the Vitriol against him.

Even if he was wrong on the facts which isn't clear by the way, he had no Intent to harm others.

This is Political Theater, Witchhunting, and bad faith Posturing.

Rand Paul is showing his ASS.

#49 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2026-07-29 01:22 PM | Reply

The morbidly obese geriatric peophile with the thin ego who is undergoing dementia treatment at WRAMC -- all paid for by the hardworking American taxpayer -- also never forgave PBS for lampooing him decades ago.

Dummkopf Trumpf is like a rabid, flea-infested camel that remembers slights many years later.

Revenge (or Wrath), one of the Seven Deadly Sins:

#50 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-07-29 01:28 PM | Reply

His diary entries reveal that he is a narcissist piece of sh1t more interested in his media appearances than public health.

#51 | Posted by visitor_ at 2026-07-29 01:36 PM | Reply

In other news, the 300 lb sack of child rape still owes E Jean Carroll $83 million.

#52 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-07-29 01:40 PM | Reply

His diary entries reveal
#51 | Posted by visitor_

And this makes you a victim how exactly?

Is there any specific public health wrongdoing you'd like to call out from his diary, or are you just looking to file a Hurt Feelings Report?

#53 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-07-29 01:58 PM | Reply

His diary entries reveal that he is a narcissist piece of sh1t more interested in his media appearances than public health.

#51 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

And Trump is....

#54 | Posted by Zed at 2026-07-29 02:00 PM | Reply

His diary entries reveal that he is a narcissist piece of sh1t more interested in his media appearances than public health.
#51 | POSTED BY VISITOR_

That's not a crime one goes before congress for.

#55 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-07-29 02:02 PM | Reply