Paul Orders Contempt Vote After Fauci Refuses To Answer Questions at Senate Covid Hearing

Senator Rand Paul is ordering the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to hold a vote next week to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer any questions at a hearing Wednesday morning on his role in the spread of Covid in 2020.“I really did want to hear from Dr. Fauci. I wanted to hear, perhaps, an apology, perhaps some semblance of being sorry for what happened or judgement errors were made. We didn’t hear any of that,” Dr. Paul, the committee chairman, said.Dr. Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during his appearance. “On the advice of counsel I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases responded to every question asked of him.Dr. Fauci was called to answer questions about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming in an opening statement that the chairman of the committee, Rand Paul, has an “unhinged obsession” with him.“It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions for your refusal to testify today, ” Dr. Paul warned Dr. Fauci.Dr. Paul had Dr. Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, escorted out of the hearing after he sat at the witness table and tried to speak. Dr. Paul said he was not recognized by the committee.“I certainly understand why you needed a pardon,” Senator Ron Johnson said. Dr. Fauci also refused to answer Mr. Johnson’s questions about his decisions to not recommend some antivirals. Calling the vaccine an “experimental gene therapy,” Mr. Johnson said that Dr. Fauci failed to follow safety surveillance systems for monitoring adverse reactions to drugs used to treat Covid. Mr. Johnson said Dr. Fauci suppressed those results and countervailing health information that may have countered the prevailing narrative on treatments, and he accused him of “sabotaging” the use of generic drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine in order to get emergency use authorizations for new and untested pharmaceuticals. The hearing came days after Dr. Paul released hundreds of pages of Dr. Fauci’s pandemic-era diary entries. The entries show Dr. Fauci reflecting on his celebrity status during the pandemic and affirming that China’s Wuhan wet market blamed for Covid’s origins was an “amplifier” but not the source of the disease.Democrats on the committee sought to protect Dr. Fauci and deflect blame onto President Trump. “It is unfortunate that you have been put in the position that you are in today. And it must be enormously frustrating to know that this hearing is designed to entrap you,” Senator Maggie Hassan said.Calling the Trump administration’s health care policy “a campaign against science and facts,” Senator Richard Blumenthal called it a shame that a “dedicated public servant like Dr. Fauci has faced persistent threats to his life since the pandemic because of the lies told about him.”Mr. Blumenthal added that Dr. Paul’s questioning of Dr. Fauci’s role in the pandemic is part of a “yearslong public crusade” and Wednesday’s hearing was a “show trial.” He said a reckoning of the period is “an insult to the memory of more than one million Americans who died of Covid-19.” “In no courtroom in America can you have your witness plead the Fifth Amendment and then your attorney gets to testify,” Dr. Paul said after Mr. Blumenthal finished speaking.Senator Rick Scott told Dr. Fauci that he was a villain to many Floridians. “You made yourself the story and abandoned the American people to serve your own ego,” Mr. Scott said, referencing Dr. Fauci’s diary entries about his media appearances during the pandemic.Mr. Scott also blamed Dr. Fauci for creating confusion over vaccines and haphazard or even conflicting recommendations on stopping the spread. He recalled how this information forced families to isolate and left people having to watch loved ones die over the phone. “We have entire generations of Americans who, rightfully so, do not trust our institutions to keep people safe because of you,” he said. “You caused this.”“Nothing says honesty like taking the Fifth,” Senator Josh Hawley said before asking Dr. Fauci what day of the week it was and a series of simple questions about colors in the room. Each time, Dr. Fauci read his prepared statement that he would not answer the question.“You don’t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you have been pardoned, as you very well know,” Mr. Hawley countered.“But I think I know why you are doing it. It’s because you don’t want to answer questions. It’s because you did all kinds of terrible things,” Mr. Hawley added.Senator James Lankford linked Dr. Fauci’s refusal to testify to a similar situation in 2014 when former IRS official Lois Lerner was held in contempt for refusing to answer questions at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the targeting of taxpayers due to their political beliefs.Like Ms. Lerner, Dr. Fauci made an opening statement but then pleaded the Fifth. The Obama administration’s attorney general, Eric Holder, rejected filing charges against Ms. Lerner and during President Trump’s first term, the Justice Department determined that Ms. Lerner had not waived her Fifth Amendment rights at the hearing.Near the end of the hearing, Mr. Johnson told Dr. Fauci to expect to return for more testimony after Dr. Fauci refused to say he would comply with a request to voluntarily sit for a transcribed interview in connection with an investigation into alleged Covid vaccine injuries. “Expect a subpoena, thank you,” Mr. Johnson said.Near the end of the hearing, Mr. Johnson told Dr. Fauci to expect to return for more testimony after Dr. Fauci declined to respond to a request to sit voluntarily for an interview as part of an investigation into alleged Covid vaccine injuries. “Expect a subpoena, thank you,” Mr. Johnson said.

Paul Orders Contempt Vote After Fauci Refuses To Answer Questions at Senate Covid Hearing

Paul Orders Contempt Vote After Fauci Refuses To Answer Questions at Senate Covid Hearing

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