Fauci pleads Fifth Amendment in COVID hearing chaired by Rand Paul

Dr. Anthony Fauci chose to plead his 5th amendment right to remain silent during a highly anticipated hearing Wednesday on his role in pandemic policy before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.Fauci said in his opening testimony that he was invoking his right to remain silent because the hearing was called by Paul to get him “to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges” to see him in prison.At the opening of the hearing, Paul slammed Fauci as concealing that the virus that causes COVID-19 could have come from a lab in China. Fauci, former director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, appeared before the Senate on Wednesday in a highly anticipated hearing about his role in allegedly covering up the origins of the virus. Paul subpoenaed Fauci for a public hearing after the former top infectious disease doctor refused to testify voluntarily regarding his role in setting pandemic policy.Paul said in his opening statement that Fauci used his position to conceal federally funded risky virus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in order to shield himself and his agency from culpability for starting the pandemic.“One million Americans died from COVID-19. Some estimate as many as 15 million people died worldwide from COVID-19,” Paul said. “Publicly, Anthony Fauci promoted the theory that the virus arose naturally, while privately he was well aware of a mountain of evidence suggesting the virus originated in the lab. The American people deserve answers.”At the start of the hearing, only two Democrats were present in the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee room. Almost all Republicans were there from the beginning.Ahead of the hearing, Paul criticized legacy media outlets for their “uncritical adulation” of Fauci during the pandemic that allowed him to influence controversial policies, including strict vaccine mandates, shutting down schools, and masking children. Anthony Fauci is a single bureaucrat who believed his opinions were so infallible that he could strip you of your liberties, and the media's uncritical adulation of him helped him do it. pic.twitter.com/xgSXQLU2iX— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) July 29, 2026 Paul said at the start of the hearing that the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 “could never have been inflicted without you aiding and abetting the crime.”“While you did not impose every restriction, you used your public authority to justify them,” Paul said.This is a developing story and will be updated. Congress reporter Lauren Green contributed to this report.