Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) ripped into Anthony Fauci over his refusal to answer questions from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Wednesday.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment throughout the entire hearing, including eight times during Hawley’s line of questioning, despite the fact that former President Joe Biden granted Fauci a blanket pardon. The pardon covers his actions prior to its issuance, but wouldn’t protect him if he committed a crime in the hearing, such as perjury. Committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been a staunch critic of Fauci since the doctor’s days leading the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response, announced after the hearing that the committee would vote on holding Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to testify.
During the fiery hearing on Wednesday, Hawley tested Fauci’s limits, asking the former public health official easy-to-answer questions, including “what color tie are you wearing?” only to be met with a Fifth Amendment plea.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Fauci said in response to each one of Hawley’s questions.
Hawley bashed Fauci for his Fifth Amendment invocations, contrasting his refusal to answer senators’ questions with his choice to sit down for an In-Style Magazine photoshoot and feature interview, which appears to no longer be available on InStyle’s website, in 2020. He also accused Fauci of profiting from his public health role by seeking cash awards.
“You had time to sit for InStyle magazine,” Hawley said. “Here’s what you were doing with your time. You could sit for InStyle magazine, but you can’t answer questions for the American people. You could sit for InStyle magazine, but you’re here taking the Fifth. You could sit for InStyle magazine and get a million bucks in cash awards, but now the cat’s got your tongue. I bet he does.”
Hawley accused Fauci of using his government staff to advocate and apply for cash awards on his behalf, saying, “You turned your staff into a full-time application machine.” Fauci refused to respond to any of Hawley’s questions or accusations, continuing to plead the Fifth as he did throughout the hearing.
“It wasn’t just about the money, really, was it? It was really about a power trip,” Hawley said. “I mean, through all of this, you want to be the most famous scientist in the world. You were so focused on getting every award and every drop of cash that you could, all because you wanted to be on TV. You wanted to be the sun god of science. You wanted to be the guy who was in charge of it all.”
Fauci told the committee at the beginning of the hearing in his opening statement that he would be pleading the Fifth because of Paul’s “unhinged obsession” with Fauci and his response to the pandemic.
RAND PAUL TO HOLD COMMITTEE VOTE ON HOLDING FAUCI IN CONTEMPT FOR REFUSING TO TESTIFY
“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 could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said of Paul.
“Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decadeslong 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.