Fauci Ducks Second Senate Panel After Taking the Fifth
“The American people deserve answers to legitimate questions regarding our miserably failed response to COVID-19. Apparently, he has a lot to hide.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci has declined another Senate appearance, this one a voluntary, transcribed interview before Sen. Ron Johnson’s investigative subcommittee.
Johnson (R-WI) chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is conducting a separate investigation into the federal COVID-19 response. The inquiry includes the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.
The refusal came from Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler. He argued that forcing Fauci to appear again after the July 29 hearing would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
Johnson posted Schertler’s response on X on Aug. 14.
Dr. Fauci’s attorney has just notified us that Fauci refuses to appear for a private transcribed interview.
The American people deserve answers to legitimate questions regarding our miserably failed response to COVID-19. Some of those questions can only be answered by Dr. Fauci.…
— Senator Ron Johnson (@SenRonJohnson) August 15, 2026
“The American people deserve answers to legitimate questions regarding our miserably failed response to COVID-19. Apparently, he has a lot to hide.”
Johnson said his staff will continue collecting Fauci’s records and interviewing his former colleagues. The subcommittee is also reviewing its legal options.
Fauci was on Capitol Hill less than three weeks earlier, although calling it testimony is generous. He appeared under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) chairs that committee.
In his opening statement, Fauci reminded senators that he had testified or briefed congressional committees more than 200 times. He also accused Paul of an “unhinged” campaign to put him behind bars.
When Paul began asking questions, Fauci gave senators the answer they would hear for most of the afternoon:
“Under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”
He basically gave that answer over 100 times during that first hearing.
Schertler tried to speak for Fauci at one point. Paul reminded him that he was not the witness, and Capitol Police later escorted the attorney from the room.
On Aug. 6, the committee voted 8-7 to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer the matter to the Justice Department.
Paul argues that former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon removed Fauci’s risk of federal prosecution, leaving him without a valid reason to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Fauci’s attorneys disagree and maintain that the privilege still applies.
Johnson’s subcommittee already has a copy of Fauci’s pandemic-era government cellphone. The broader committee also received more than 1,000 pages from his personal diary before the July hearing.
Some of those entries have aged poorly.
In January 2020, Fauci wrote that the Wuhan wet market “was not the source” of the virus but “the amplifier.” Days later, he recorded that 10 of 12 virologists on a call thought “deliberate insertion was possible.” By May, Fauci was writing about his “explosive” fame.
Paul’s separate document release showed that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted undeclared biological materials linked to a network of American and Chinese coronavirus researchers in 2018. The records also showed the FBI directing CBP not to stop Peter Daszak at JFK in 2021.
The Science, it seems, is unavailable for follow-up questions.
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Comments
Which is just flat out wrong, so long as the states can still prosecute him. If Paul actually wanted to make him testify he could have given him immunity from having his truthful testimony used against him in any prosecution, federal or state. That would indeed force him to testify, and if he lied he could be prosecuted for perjury and contempt.
“…impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
There are roughly 330 million of us out here that lost two plus years of our lives because Dr. Fauci wanted to play Mad Scientist. And that’s to say nothing for those who let no crisis go to waste in banishing the Bad Orange Man (which wound up being a terrible decision on their part).
“Political purposes” indeed. The entire pandemic was 200 proof politics.
There is no punishment outside of the 9th ring of Hell itself sufficient for this sawed off little runt. The sooner he’s on his way there the better as far as I am concerned.
I did not intend for this to be a reply to Milhouse. Unfortunately, we don’t have an edit or delete function.
If Dante were alive today, he could come up with a 10th ring of Hell just for Fauci. Imagine what that could be like.
Millhouse, you are correct on the law, However, Paul is playing the game differently, because he knows that if he gives immunity Fauci cannot be tried for any criminal activity in any state court.
States are looking into his activities to see if state charges can be filed, and the legal questions from Biden’s preemptive pardon are not settled.
So, as you know if Paul gives him immunity, and he admits to illegal activity he suffers no legal or monetary punishment for crimes he is convicted for. Paul is playing the political game well here, and we do not know what the DOJ and state DOJ’s are doing in this case. So, Paul is doing to Fauci what Democrats have done to opponents for a long time.
Then he can’t expect him to testify, and his contempt citation is deliberately dishonest, an outright filthy lie. He knows Fauci is not in contempt, and Paul had his committee majority lie and violate their oaths, and he then knowingly sent a false criminal referral to DOJ. That’s a crime. It’s also defamation with actual malice.
Yes, that is the whole point of immunity. It’s the tool Congress has in order to compel testimony. Paul can’t have it both ways.
Only if Fauci knows he is guilty of crimes for which he can be prosecuted. Were he innocent of any crimes related to his activities around covid, then he could have freely and confidently answered the committee’s questions.
It was not Paul’s place to pre-determine Fauci was guilty of any crimes, therefore requiring his testimony was an act without bias, not “deliberately dishonest” as you put it.. And Fauci’s deliberate use of the 5th to hide from answering questions about the color of his tie or the carpet IS contemptible, and the contempt charges are appropriate..
Fauci made it clear he intended to stymie the committee because he knew his true testimony would lead to prosecution in other courts. I’m afraid I find your emphasis on the “filthy lies” of Senator Paul bizarre and incredibly narrow of focus.
Taking the fifth is a sacred constitutional right, and cannot be taken as evidence of guilt. Completely innocent people take the fifth all the time, and any competent lawyer routinely advises completely innocent clients to take the fifth, for fear that even a completely innocent answer might tend to incriminate them. It’s the safe option.
Paul’s claim that the fifth is not available to Fauci is a deliberate, knowing lie. He knows very well that it is available, and that he could easily have taken it away if he wanted to. All he had to do was offer him use immunity. But he refused to do so, and therefore has only himself to blame that Fauci fell back on his rights. Therefore the contempt citation was a deliberate violation of Paul’s oath, and the oath of every GOP member of that committee. And the criminal referral is itself a crime. And criminals like that don’t get to look down their noses at their fellow criminal, Fauci.
What legal questions? The only possible flaw in the pardon is if Biden didn’t authorize it, and there’s simply no foundation for that supposition. Without clear and convincing evidence that it’s fraudulent the pardon must stand.
Except that there are legitimate questions surrounding Biden’s cognitive ability to delegate the autopen authority, or as to who was authorizing the use of the autopen in the first place.
Because these issues haven’t been adjudicated doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
There needs to be a foundation for challenging what is ostensibly a valid pardon. You can’t just fling allegations around with no basis for believing them to be true. All we have now is general speculation. We know Biden had good days and bad ones; we know he was capable of pardoning people because the Hunter pardon was hand-written, so we need a basis before alleging that any particular pardon was given when he was having a bad day.
FWIW –
A – first point I agree that Fauci did a lot of damage with science, especially with creating distrust of experts and he should be prosecuted at the federal level, absent the pardon which eliminates any prosecution.
B – state prosecution prosecution for any crimes, etc is going to be a reach.
C – With the caveat, that I have not explored what state crimes Fauci may have committed, Any prosecution at the state level is going to backfire since it will have the appearance of vindictiveness, etc. Its just going to be a bad look.
Nonetheless the Florida AG has publicly announced that he’s seriously looking for an excuse to prosecute him, and that threat is enough to justify his resort to the fifth. If state prosecution is really not a serious threat, then why didn’t Paul offer him use immunity from it? His failure to do so means that he too thinks it’s a real possibility, and doesn’t want to prevent it. So he can’t simultaneously claim that the fifth is not available to Fauci.
just to be clear – I think Fauci did tremendous damage to the image of science and the trust in experts. Fauci should be prosecuted at the federal level, though unfortunately that avenue is not closed due to the blanket pardon.
At this point, I am opposed to prosecuting him at the state level. The prime reason for my opposition is that any prosecution of fauci is going to have the appearance of prosecuting republicans political enemies. What is overlooked is virtually all democrats still worship him and believe much of the junk science promoted by fauci is solid science.
just my thoughts
This is flat out naive.
Fauci had no intention to admit to any wrongdoing, regardless of any relevant legal issues.
He wasn’t going to be forced to say anything.
If he were given use immunity then he would have no choice. He would be forced to testify truthfully or be prosecuted for contempt. And, if he lied, for perjury as well. But without immunity the fifth does indeed protect him.
Let him not testify, but haul him before investigators and force him to listen to the wrongs and claim the 5th 100,000 times!
Then again, challenge the autopen pardon. It would be so interesting to look under the hood.
He was pardoned, I don’t see how he thinks this isn’t contempt.
I don’t see how you can think it’s is contempt. So what if he was pardoned. Does that stop him being prosecuted in state courts? No, it doesn’t. So how can you imagine the fifth doesn’t protect him? How can you imagine he can be compelled to provide testimony that can be used against him in a state prosecution? Isn’t that exactly what the fifth forbids?
You need a state crime to be prosecuted in state court
And your basis for believing that nothing he did was a state crime?
The FL AG is actively looking for something to charge him with. How do you know there’s nothing for him to find?
Can you state the actual crime any of the things he did would amount to and precedent for it being a state crime?
Fauci’s right not to testify died the moment Biden pardoned him unless there is a state crime and I frankly can’t think of a single one.
Might as well give him immunity; no chance he’s going to jail anyway. Civil suits are the best we can hope for; can’t plead the fifth because of fear of civil suit.
Time to start dragging underlings in, but Dr Scarf first
It would be a darn shame if the “DR”
disappeared and was later found
in the deep desert naked .. staked out and eaten alive by sand fleas …
/Sarc.
It’s puzzling (sort of) that some wish to continue to give Fauci the benefit of the doubt. He already had millions of people eating out of his hand: the mask fraud, the distancing fraud, the vax is safe fraud, the wet market fraud, the gain of function fraud. This man deserves to have the worst punishment ever. Splitting hairs over his pleading the Fifth and his “immunity” serve to support letting The Big Fraud Fauci off the legal hook. He deserves no legal protection whatsoever. His was the crime of the century. Period.
There speaks a villain, someone who has utter contempt for justice and for our fundamental liberties, and for the constitution. If the law doesn’t protect Fauci it protects no one. There is no hair-splitting; either he is subject to prosecution or he is not. If he is (which you can’t deny is the case), then he cannot be compelled to testify against himself. That’s fundamental. If you deny that you are worse than he is.
Why has no one brought the question of the validity of biden’s pre-emptive pardons before SCOTUS? Once that’s adjudicated, everything will fall into place. So far, it’s a guessing game. Failure to resolve this question is legislative malfeasance.
How can it be brought before SCOTUS? You’d first have to develop an actual case against someone, and charge them, and have them raise their pardon as a defense, and then you’d have to produce evidence that it was invalid, and lose in the district court, appeal it to the circuit court, and then take it to SCOTUS. Even if you were seriously trying to do that it would take years.
Or did you think you could just ask SCOTUS for an advisory opinion on some legal question?
Maybe for naught, but a legal suggestion: Johnson’s committee should subpoena Fauci, which he can either choose to ignore with serious consequences (see Bannon and Navarro), or more likely, his attorneys will move to quash. If the latter, the state’s attorneys can argue in support of the subpoena as warranted because Fauci wrongfully pleaded the 5th with a POTUS pardon in hand, and the court should thus order him to testify with no further resort to the 5th as to questions on his conduct in the period covered by the pardon. Should the court so order, Fauci will of course appeal, but the key legal issued is then teed up.
No court could order that, because he’s clearly exposed to state prosecution. Only by closing off that possibility can he be compelled to testify.
Milhouse is probably right. With that said, continue and drag this little Dr Mengele before any and every committee. Let him claim the 5th another 100, 200 times. Humiliate him over and over again. It’s personal for me. My youngest daughter was pregnant and her ob-gyn recommended the shot for her. She said yes. She had a miscarriage 3 weeks later. She hasn’t been able to get pregnant since. I hate that miserable little bastard. Prison is too good for him.
Yeah, but if it becomes obvious harassment the courts will not allow it.
If you want him punished, the best bet would seem to be to hope that a sympathetic state AG, such as the FL one, finds something to charge him with.
“Fauci Ducks Second Senate Panel After Taking the Fifth”
I’m waiting for when he ducks his fifth Senate panel, at which point he had better be taking the Second.
I’ve long since reached the point where every time I see/hear the name, I immediately think of three things: deserts, stakes & wet rawhide thongs.