Here's The Real Reason Dr. Fauci Wouldn't Answer Questions In His Senate Hearing
by Matt Stopera · BuzzFeedPosted 39 minutes ago
Anthony Fauci testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday regarding his role during the pandemic.
It was kind of totally a shitshow.
I'm sure you've seen the videos of Fauci refusing to answer simple questions like "What day of the week is it?"
I asked Fauci basic questions: What day of the week is it today? What color tie are you wearing? What color is the carpet in front of you?
He pled the Fifth and refused to answer every time pic.twitter.com/fg41ZF1PqX
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 29, 2026
Fox/Josh Hawley/x.com
It always came down to the Fifth Amendment.
Fox even did a supercut:
The FOX remix of Fauci invoking the fifth. pic.twitter.com/kyYje2yJD5
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 29, 2026
Fox/Acyn/x.com
So, for those wondering what the heck was happening, let me explain.
The Fifth Amendment gives you the right to remain silent so you don't incriminate yourself in a criminal case. Joe Biden granted Fauci a blanket pardon in January 2025. A pardon doesn't protect against future crimes, so lawmakers were attempting to question him under oath to potentially catch him in a contradiction or perjury.
Fauci also offered up another explanation about why he would be invoking the Fifth besides the literal legal one:
At the end of his opening statement before Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the COVID-19 Pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci invokes the Fifth Amendment. pic.twitter.com/5A6UXxFrin
— CSPAN (@cspan) July 29, 2026
CSPAN / Via x.com
After highlighting his decades of government service, Fauci turned his focus directly to Rand Paul's attacks and determination to get him "behind bars."
He explained: "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, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars.'"
"Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion. Therefore, 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 rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions. Thank you."
Naturally, Fauci's non-answers REALLY set lawmakers off.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley posted on X: "Hint for you: no honest person pleads the Fifth."
That post kind of backfired on him.
He was "community noted": "In fact, the Supreme Court has 'emphasized that one of the Fifth Amendment’s basic functions is to protect innocent men [and women] who otherwise might be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances.'"
Then there was the Trump thing.
People were quick to point out that Trump pleaded the Fifth 450 times in 2022 while being investigated for the Trump Organization's business practices.
/ Via nbcnews.com