- Published
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.
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nobody → publish → himself
Contradicting himself under oath could be legally perilous for him.
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Contradicting → contradict → him
Fauci noted he had testified about Covid and its origin at several congressional hearings.
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he → note → hearings
Republicans have long accused Fauci of concealing information about the pandemic from the public and lying about its dangers.
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Republicans → accuse → dangers
He has denied wrongdoing.
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He → deny → wrongdoing
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.
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Fauci → call → 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.
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it → take → 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.
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Fauci → grant → committee
He could also face state or local charges.
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He → face → 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.
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that → say → 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.
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Fauci → reach → bars
Paul, who worked as an eye surgeon before joining Congress, continued questioning Fauci despite his refusal to answer.
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who → work → refusal
The Kentucky senator repeatedly invited Fauci to "apologise" and said the committee would vote next week on a resolution holding him in contempt of Congress.
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him → invite → Congress
Republicans asked Fauci about shifting health guidance, which changed during the pandemic as health officials learned more about the disease.
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officials → ask → disease
Fauci has previously defended his policy positions.
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Fauci → defend → positions
One of Fauci's lawyers, David Schertler, who was sitting next to him, repeatedly tried to interject during Paul's questioning and was removed from the room.
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who → sit → room
Schertler later called it "outrageous" for Paul to "exclude his counsel for making a legitimate legal point".
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Paul → call → point
"It proves the baseless and vindictive nature of this proceeding and Rand Paul's personal vendetta against Dr Fauci," Schertler added in a statement.
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Schertler → prove → statement
During the hearing, President Donald Trump took to social media to call Fauci "crazy".
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Trump → take → Fauci
"I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China.
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Virus → say → China
Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China," Trump said.
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Trump → disagree → China
The origins of the pandemic have been a matter of strong debate in the US, including between Trump, who was in office when it began in 2020, and public health officials, including Fauci.
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it → include → Fauci
The pair frequently sparred over the handling of the pandemic, including when Trump suggested unproven treatments.
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Trump → spar → treatments
In the hearing, Paul suggested that while Fauci said publicly that Covid originated naturally, he privately believed the virus originated in a medical lab.
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virus → suggest → lab
The senator has repeatedly promoted the lab-leak theory that Covid came from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology.
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Covid → promote → Virology
The World Health Organization said last year the natural-origin theory - the virus spilling over from animals to people - was the "best supported" idea from available evidence, but that until more information emerges, the matter is "inconclusive".
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matter → say → evidence
Fauci mused on Covid origins in diary
Earlier this week, Paul released Fauci's pandemic-era diary entries, in which he mused about fame and Covid's origins.
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he → muse → fame
The entries reflect openness at the start of the pandemic to two possible theories about Covid's origins - including natural origins and a lab leak - before he appears to become more convinced it had a natural origin.
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it → reflect → origin
In one entry from February 2020 discussing a conference call between Covid scientists, Fauci says the doctors did not have "total agreement" about where the virus came from.
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virus → discuss → where
Later, he writes he "is 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".
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I → write → leak
"[J]ust because two alternatives are possible that does not mean that they are equally probable," Fauci wrote.
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Fauci → mean → ?
His decision not to testify upset Republicans, including Senator Ron Johnson, who told Fauci that he planned to push to subpoena him in an effort to require him to answer lawmakers' questions.
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he → testify → questions
Following the hearing's conclusion, Florida's attorney general, a Republican, said he would open an investigation into Fauci.
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he → follow → Fauci
Several Democrats, meanwhile, came to Fauci's defence, including Senator Maggie Hassan, who said the hearing was "designed to entrap" him.
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hearing → come → him
Fauci has faced death threats during and after the coronavirus pandemic.
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Fauci → face → pandemic
Trump last year removed his security protection.
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Trump → remove → protection
The former top health official was one of the most trusted members of the US government during its response to the pandemic as scientists were trying to learn about the virus as quickly as possible.
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scientists → try → virus
In 2021, Trump awarded Fauci a presidential commendation for his work on the US Covid vaccine project, known as Operation Warp Speed.
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Trump → award → Speed
