In a long-anticipated hearing before a Senate committee, former National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, MD, refused to answer questions amid accusations that he misled the country about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highly politicized hearing was the latest chapter in a years-long effort by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to pursue Fauci, who led the COVID-19 response in the first Trump and the Biden administrations. Paul argues that Fauci supported gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, that resulted in the creation and accidental release of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and that he tried to suppress evidence and discussion of the lab-leak theory.
“Admit it was a mistake to fund dangerous research in China,” Paul said in his opening statement. “Admit that the risk of this dangerous research exceeded any possible benefits. Ask forgiveness, and pledge to help our government devise safeguards, so a man-made epidemic never happens again.”
To date, there is no conclusive evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic emerged from a lab leak, though the Trump administration now says evidence points to the virus being created in a lab that was funded by the National Institutes of Health. Fauci has said that a lab leak cannot be ruled out.
Fauci received a pre-emptive pardon from former President Joe Biden before he left office in January 2025, but Paul and other Republicans have suggested that any false statements made by Fauci in congressionally subpoenaed testimony would be perjury and could result in prosecution. Fauci said he believes in legitimate congressional oversight but that Paul’s “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution” and "repeated slanderous comments" compelled him to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer, based upon my rights, under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” Fauci repeated over the course of the nearly three-hour hearing.
Democrats criticize treatment of Fauci
Other Republican members of the committee took turns assailing Fauci, claiming that he was responsible for COVID lockdowns and school closures, that he lied about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and discredited alternative treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, that he abused his power, and that he personally profited from the pandemic.
Democratic members of the committee criticized the efforts to “entrap” Fauci and said the hearing should be focused more on learning the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic and helping the nation prepare for the next pandemic.
“When a crisis like COVID-19 strikes, we have an obligation to examine what went right and what went wrong and to provide accountability for the American people,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI). “I think today's hearing, unfortunately, does real damage.”
Paul said the committee would hold a vote next week on whether Fauci was in contempt of Congress.
