Dr. Anthony Fauci Refuses to Answer Any COVID-19 Questions During Senate Hearing About Pandemic
Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right during the hearing.
July 29 2026, Published 3:30 p.m. ET
Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right and refused to answer any COVID-19 questions during a Senate hearing, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
During his opening statement, Fauci, who appeared under a subpoena from Sen. Rand Paul, tore into the Republican, accusing him of being "obsessed" with seeing him "behind bars."
'I Will Invoke My Right Under the 5th Amendment'
Fauci refused to answer questions about COVID-19 during a Senate hearing.
"The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to prompt me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars,'" Fauci said.
The 85-year-old declared, "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 right under the 5th Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions."
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has felt the wrath of Paul and other Republicans over allegations he hid the true origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was eventually pardoned by President Joe Biden during his last days in office to avoid any prosecution.
"A pardon that protects a person from criminal prosecution doesn't rewrite history," Paul told Fauci during the hearing on Wednesday, July 29. "It does not erase documents. It does not convert a misleading statement to a truthful one, and it does not prevent Congress from establishing what happened."
President Trump Goes Off on Dr. Anthony Fauci
Fauci appeared at the hearing under a subpoena from Sen. Rand Paul.
Despite the pardon, Paul, after becoming chairman of a major Senate Committee, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attempted to bring perjury charges against Fauci.
Before the hearing, RFK Jr. claimed, "There are many things that (Fauci) said that we know are lies, and Rand Paul presumably is going to ask him about those things, and if he lies again, then he could be subject to perjury prosecution," in an interview with Fox News.
The drama even reached President Trump, who accused Fauci of having "crazy" ideas, and claimed the COVID-19 virus "came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China."
The controversial president then claimed he stopped Fauci from "shutting the country down" during the pandemic, and added, "I went the Federalist way, and let the governors decide."
Dr. Anthony Fauci V. Rand Paul
Trump accused Fauci of having 'crazy' ideas about the virus.
Paul has continued to push the allegation that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded viral research in Wuhan, China, that created virulent and contagious strains of coronavirus. Fauci, however, has continued to deny the allegations, as evidence that the virus was leaked from a lab has yet to be discovered.
Fauci and Paul's feud has continued throughout the years, with the politician refusing to abandon his "lab leak theory, and accusing the doctor of telling the public the theory holds no water.
Recently, the battle ramped up after Paul publicly released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's personal diary entries that documented his response to the pandemic in real-time.
In one entry from January 26, 2020, while discussing the origin of the virus, Fauci wrote, "We know the market (in Wuhan) was not the source, it was the amplifier. Having said that, somewhere the virus jumped from animals to humans."
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Fauci has denied the theory the virus was leaked from a lab in China.
In another entry, dated one month later, Fauci noted he held a call with U.S. and international health experts and wrote that officials were in disagreement about the origins.
During Wednesday's hearing, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
