Fauci Ducks Second Senate Panel After Taking the Fifth

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Fauci Ducks Second Senate Panel After Taking the Fifth

“The American people deserve answers to legitimate questions regarding our miserably failed response to COVID-19. Apparently, he has a lot to hide.” 

Posted by Ben SmithSunday, August 16, 2026 at 05:00pm23 Comments

Dr. Anthony Fauci has declined another Senate appearance, this one a voluntary, transcribed interview before Sen. Ron Johnson’s investigative subcommittee.

Johnson (R-WI) chairs the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is conducting a separate investigation into the federal COVID-19 response. The inquiry includes the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.

The refusal came from Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler. He argued that forcing Fauci to appear again after the July 29 hearing would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”

Johnson posted Schertler’s response on X on Aug. 14.

“The American people deserve answers to legitimate questions regarding our miserably failed response to COVID-19. Apparently, he has a lot to hide.” 

Johnson said his staff will continue collecting Fauci’s records and interviewing his former colleagues. The subcommittee is also reviewing its legal options.

Fauci was on Capitol Hill less than three weeks earlier, although calling it testimony is generous. He appeared under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) chairs that committee.

In his opening statement, Fauci reminded senators that he had testified or briefed congressional committees more than 200 times. He also accused Paul of an “unhinged” campaign to put him behind bars.

When Paul began asking questions, Fauci gave senators the answer they would hear for most of the afternoon:

“Under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”

He basically gave that answer over 100 times during that first hearing.

Schertler tried to speak for Fauci at one point. Paul reminded him that he was not the witness, and Capitol Police later escorted the attorney from the room.

On Aug. 6, the committee voted 8-7 to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer the matter to the Justice Department.

Paul argues that former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon removed Fauci’s risk of federal prosecution, leaving him without a valid reason to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Fauci’s attorneys disagree and maintain that the privilege still applies.

Johnson’s subcommittee already has a copy of Fauci’s pandemic-era government cellphone. The broader committee also received more than 1,000 pages from his personal diary before the July hearing.

Some of those entries have aged poorly.

In January 2020, Fauci wrote that the Wuhan wet market “was not the source” of the virus but “the amplifier.” Days later, he recorded that 10 of 12 virologists on a call thought “deliberate insertion was possible.” By May, Fauci was writing about his “explosive” fame.

Paul’s separate document release showed that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted undeclared biological materials linked to a network of American and Chinese coronavirus researchers in 2018. The records also showed the FBI directing CBP not to stop Peter Daszak at JFK 

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