Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his 5th Amendment Rights more than 100 times during a Senate committee hearing on the origins of the COVID-19 virus.
Fauci refused to answer questions from senators. He pleaded the Fifth Amendment 111 times on the advice of his counsel.
Republican Senator Rand Paul was so fed up with one of Fauci attorneys that he had the lawyer booted out of the hearing.
BREAKING: Sen. Rand Paul removes Dr. Anthony Fauci's lawyer from his Senate hearing after repeatedly talking over Paul to defend Fauci after not being invited to speak.
"You will respect these proceedings. You were told not to sit at the table. You insist on sitting at the… pic.twitter.com/VPVQAT6m01
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 29, 2026
Fauci was represented by at least 5 other lawyers who sat behind him during the contentious hearing.
Fauci pleaded the Fifth when Senator Josh Hawley asked him, “What color tie are you wearing?”
After the hearing, Senator Paul said the committee plans to vote on whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions.
Fauci can’t be prosecuted even if the committee finds he committed a crime during the Covid era.
Former President Joe Biden granted Fauci a preemptive presidential pardon before leaving office in January 2025.
President Donald Trump said he respects Biden’s pardon of Fauci, who received blanket immunity for any crimes he may have committed in the government’s response to COVID.
“He was pardoned by Biden, and I respect that,” Trump told reporters on July 29. “I know how powerful it is. It’s a very powerful – they say it’s literally the most powerful thing a president has.”
Fauci’s role in the U.S. government’s COVID-19 response remains under scrutiny more than six years later.
Senator Paul said Biden’s blanket pardon does not protect Fauci from potential state or local charges.
“Today I am the most famous person in the world.”
Newly released excerpts from Fauci’s diary shows the 85-year-old immunologist is addicted to fame.
“Press still hot and heavy about me,” he wrote in a diary entry on April 7, 2020. On May 21, 2020, he wrote that a Washington Post article about him was “very flattering.”
“The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not [hyperbole] to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable [person] in the world.”