US: Dr Anthony Fauci refuses to answer any question during Senate hearing on origin of Covid-19, invokes Fifth Amendment right

In a dramatic turn of events on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, 29 July 2026, the former director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci, refused to answer a single substantive question during a Republican-led Senate hearing on the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and the American government’s response to it. Fauci repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination to refuse to answer the questions. The 85-year-old scientist, who had testified before Congress more than 250 times over his long career, appeared under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, one of his most persistent critics.

In his opening remarks, Dr Fauci accused Senator Paul of harbouring an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution” and of conducting an “unhinged” campaign aimed at putting him “behind bars.” He pointed to the senator’s repeated public calls for his indictment, what he described as slanderous comments, and the recent release of more than a thousand pages of his personal diary entries from the pandemic years, which he claimed had been published with the intention of embarrassing and intimidating him.

He said that although it pained him, given his decades-long record of cooperation with Congress and his respect for the legislative branch, he would, on the advice of his attorneys, invoke the Fifth Amendment and decline to answer questions. From that point onwards, whenever Senator Paul or other Republican members pressed him on subjects such as National Institutes of Health funding of research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, the nature of gain-of-function experiments, or earlier sworn testimony, Dr Fauci responded with the same formula: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”

When Senator Josh Hawley asked mundane questions like what is the day of the today, what is the colour of the tie he is wearing or what is the colour of the carpet, Dr Fauci repeated the same answer every time.

The hearing grew increasingly tense during the hearing. One of Dr Fauci’s lawyers, David Schertler, who was seated at the witness table despite instructions that counsel should remain in the audience, attempted to speak in defence of his client’s constitutional privilege. Senator Paul repeatedly ruled that the attorney was not recognised, warned him against disrupting the proceedings, and eventually ordered Capitol security to remove him from the room.

The lawyer was escorted out while the chairman noted that Dr Fauci still had half a dozen other attorneys present who could advise him privately. In a written statement before his removal, the lawyer said that the circumstances surrounding Fauci’s appearance “regrettably made his continued cooperation impossible,” adding that Paul had a “public crusade” against his client.

Senator Paul warned that there would be “repercussions” for the refusal to testify after being directed to do so, and that the committee would consider further action for possible obstruction of a congressional investigation.

The hearing took place against a backdrop of years of Republican scrutiny of Dr Fauci’s role during the pandemic. Critics have long alleged that the National Institutes of Health, under his leadership, channelled funds through the non-profit EcoHealth Alliance to support research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan laboratory, work they contend amounted to gain-of-function experiments that may have contributed to a laboratory accident.

Dr Fauci has consistently maintained that the funded research did not meet the federal definition of such high-risk work and that the virus most likely emerged naturally from an animal reservoir.

The immediate catalyst for Wednesday’s appearance was a subpoena issued by Senator Paul, coming shortly after the senator released Dr Fauci’s private diary notes covering the period from late 2019 to 2022. Those entries, according to the senator, revealed that Dr Fauci had privately considered laboratory-related possibilities for the virus’s origin at an early stage, even while public messaging emphasised a natural spillover, and also contained reflections on his own sudden fame and interactions with political leaders.

Adding further fuel were documents declassified in June 2026 by then Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on her final day in office. The materials alleged that Dr Fauci had directed millions of dollars in taxpayer funding towards research at the Wuhan Institute that involved enhancing bat coronaviruses, had interacted with intelligence community officials in ways that allegedly steered assessments away from a laboratory-leak hypothesis, and had given testimony in 2024 that was inconsistent with those interactions.

Notably, Dr Fauci received a full and unconditional presidential pardon from President Joe Biden in January 2025 covering any offences related to his official duties from 2014 onwards. But Republican senators argued that the pardon did not shield him from potential perjury charges arising from fresh testimony or from contempt proceedings for refusing to answer questions under subpoena. The pardon itself came under question President Biden’s signature was put on it by an autopen on the instructions of a White House staff.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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