Dr. Anthony Fauci declined to answer questions from Fox News Digital outside his home on Thursday regarding his invocation of the Fifth Amendment during a recent Senate hearing and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci's refusal to answer followed his appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. During the hearing, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, stating, "Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government, and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions."
The hearing focused on Fauci's response to the pandemic and policy decisions, including accusations of funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China. Senator Paul argued that Fauci's invocation of the Fifth Amendment was unsupported, especially after a pardon from President Biden, and that the committee would vote on a resolution to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
Paul has also raised questions about discrepancies between Fauci's private diary entries and his public statements. He noted one diary entry that documented an early discussion about whether the virus's features could have been deliberately inserted, a point on which Fauci publicly favored a natural origin. Paul also cited diary entries suggesting Fauci influenced New York and California officials to close their school systems, despite Fauci's public statements that he was not responsible for school shutdowns.
When pressed by Fox News Digital about regrets concerning his pandemic-related decisions, Fauci also declined to answer, walking away from the reporters.