Anthony Fauci pleads the Fifth over 100 times in bizarre Senate spectacle

America’s former Covid tsar Anthony Fauci repeatedly declined to answer questions during a bizarre Senate hearing that saw a culmination of Republican conspiracy theories

In one of the strangest political spectacles ever to come out of the US, America’s former Covid tsar pleaded the Fifth more than 100 times as years of bizarre Republican conspiracy theories and accusations against him finally reached the US Senate.

Anthony Fauci, credited with helping to save millions of American lives during the pandemic. faced a bitter hearing that revealed far more about the state of US politics than it did about the country’s response to Covid.

At times so strange, the world-renowned medic even refused to answer when asked whether a folder was sitting in front of him or the colour of the carpet.

Republican senator Rand Paul, Fauci’s political enemy of several years, afterwards claimed there was a “very real chance” the 85-year-old could be prosecuted and threatened to hold him in contempt of Congress. Whether any prosecution is remotely likely remains far less clear.

Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after being subpoenaed by Paul, his bitter political enemy of several years.

The Kentucky senator has repeatedly accused Fauci of misleading Congress and attempting to conceal evidence about the origins of the coronavirus and American funding connected to research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

The doctor denies wrongdoing and has described Paul’s campaign against him as an “unhinged” attempt to have him imprisoned. On the advice of his lawyers, he refused to answer questions on Wednesday, invoking the Fifth Amendment, which protects people from being forced to provide evidence that could incriminate them. It was the same right of silence invoked by Donald Trump almost 450 times during a probe into his business operations.

Using that right is not a crime and does not amount to an admission of guilt. Trump invoked it hundreds of times during a 2022 deposition in the New York investigation into his business empire. That did not stop Republicans from portraying Fauci’s silence as deeply suspicious.

Paul said his committee would vote next week on whether to find him in criminal contempt of Congress. Republicans hold an eight to seven majority on the panel, meaning the proposal could advance to the full Senate. There, it would require 60 votes and therefore the support of Democrats, making its passage highly unlikely.

Even if the Senate approved it, the matter would be referred to federal prosecutors in Washington, who would decide whether to take further action.

Paul claimed: “I think there is a very real chance that he could be prosecuted for that.” But Fauci’s lawyers, one of whom was removed from the hearing, argue the hearing was designed to trap him into making statements that could then be used to pursue a perjury case.

Democrat senator Maggie Hassan accused Republicans of staging proceedings “designed to entrap” him, while other Democrats denounced the hearing as a politically motivated attempt to criminalise his public service. The exchanges became so heated that Fauci’s lawyer was removed from the hearing room after attempting to intervene.

Before leaving office in January 2025, Joe Biden issued Fauci a pre-emptive pardon covering potential federal offences arising from his work between 2014 and the date of the pardon.

Paul argues that protection would not cover anything Fauci said or did during Wednesday’s hearing. The legal reach of the pardon, and whether Fauci could properly refuse every question put to him, could ultimately be tested in court.

Florida’s Republican attorney general, James Uthmeier, also announced an investigation into Fauci but offered no details of any suspected state crime. The hearing returned repeatedly to the unresolved question of how Covid began.

Paul believes the virus likely leaked from the Wuhan laboratory and has accused Fauci of publicly promoting a natural origin while privately considering a lab accident. Fauci has denied concealing evidence or improperly funding dangerous research.

American intelligence agencies remain divided. The FBI and CIA have leaned towards a laboratory origin, with varying degrees of confidence, while other agencies and many scientists consider transmission from animals more likely. No theory has been conclusively proved.

The World Health Organisation has said the available evidence best supports a natural origin, but that the question remains unresolved because crucial information has not been provided. Trump joined the attack from the sidelines, calling Fauci “crazy” and claiming he had always known the virus came from the Wuhan laboratory.

The President neglected to mention that, during his first term, he awarded Fauci a presidential commendation for his contribution to Operation Warp Speed, the programme that accelerated the development of Covid vaccines.

Fauci became one of America’s best-known public officials during the pandemic, regularly appearing beside Trump at White House briefings as scientists struggled to understand a new and rapidly spreading disease.

Their relationship later collapsed as the president played down the virus, promoted unproven treatments and grew increasingly angry when Fauci contradicted him.

The doctor has since received repeated death threats. Trump removed his government-funded security protection after returning to the White House.

There are serious questions still to be examined about the pandemic, including its origins, shifting public health advice, school closures, and whether officials were sufficiently transparent about scientific uncertainty.

Yet Wednesday’s spectacle offered little prospect of answers. One side asked questions it hoped might lead to a prosecution. The other refused to answer because he believed that was precisely the point.