Fauci pleads Fifth Amendment in Senate COVID hearing

Aidan Williams, Bloomberg News on Jul 29, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify at a Senate committee hearing on his role in the U.S. response to COVID-19 after slamming the proceeding as having been designed to push him into making incriminating statements.

“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 would allow him to meet his repeated pledges to get me behind bars,” he said of Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

The now-retired Fauci was the early face of the U.S. response to the coronavirus as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Paul has long been critical of Fauci and last week released some of Fauci’s personal diaries, which included his thoughts on the pandemic response and his growing fame.

On Wednesday, Paul said he would seek to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions despite having been preemptively pardoned by outgoing President Joe Biden in 2025.

“The way I look at it is all he had to do was tell the truth today, and he had no liability,” Paul said. “He could have easily answered correctly.”

Paul and Fauci have publicly sparred about the origins of the pandemic. On Wednesday, the senator repeated his allegations that Fauci obfuscated evidence that points to the disease originating in a lab in Wuhan, China.

“I hope today Dr. Fauci will come clean, admit it was a mistake to fund dangerous research in China, admit that the risk of this dangerous research exceeded any possible benefits, ask forgiveness, and pledge to help our government devise safeguards so a manmade epidemic never happens again,” Paul said before Fauci declined to testify. “Instead of an apology, you have for years avoided responsibility.”

Democrats came to Fauci’s defense and criticized the hearing as a distraction from rising healthcare costs and the public health policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

“It is unfortunate that you have been put in the position that you are in today,” said New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan. “And it must be enormously frustrating to know that this hearing is designed to entrap you. It must be very frustrating for your attorneys to hear the chair’s mischaracterization of the legal issues and posture that impact your decisions at the witness table today.”

Since Fauci repeatedly declined to answer questions, Republican senators used their question time to lob accusations at the doctor.

“I certainly understand why you needed a pardon,” Sen. Ron Johnson said. “I certainly understand why, on the advice of counsel, you’re not answering any questions, because I think it would be almost impossible for you to answer the questions truthfully, without really demonstrating what you did, your culpability.”