RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Shows Good Morning America ShopGMA Interest Successfully Added We'll notify you here with news about Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Off On Stream on Fauci invokes 5th Amendment during Senate testimony, refrains from answering lawmakers' questions Dr. Anthony Fauci is appearing before a Senate committee on Wednesday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who helped lead the U.S. response during the COVID-19 pandemic, invoked the Fifth Amendment amid plans to testify before the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) on Wednesday and will refrain from answering questions.
The committee is chaired by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who has long accused Fauci of deceiving Americans about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul was expected to focus on Fauci's private journal entries between December 2019 and December 2022.
"It pains me to do so because of the respect that 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," Fauci said during his opening statement.
Fauci said he testified before or briefed congressional committees over 200 times in his 38 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
"Given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, 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 that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars,'" Fauci said.
One of Fauci’s attorneys, who was sitting next to the doctor, attempted to speak several times after Paul's questioning was over, but the senator shut him down, saying he wasn't recognized.
Paul said David Schertler, counsel for Fauci, wasn't permitted to speak.
"You were told not to sit at the table, you insist on sitting at the table, and we told you you would not be recognized," Paul said to the attorney. "You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disrupted. Would you behave this way in a courtroom? No, because the judge would put you in jail. I can't do that today, but I can have you escorted from the premises."
After about another minute, Paul called for security and Capitol Police had Schertler escorted from the room.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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