Former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — and apparently, serial perjurer — Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment and had his lawyer answer for him one too many times during a congressional hearing Wednesday.
Senate Republicans are a lot of talk and no action most of the time. But it is understandable that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) would want to harangue Fauci after the release of Fauci’s journal logs at NIAID during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that Fauci repeatedly lied under oath to Congress. Fauci understands that pretty much anything he admits is incriminating at this point, which is why he kept having his lawyer answer. But a congressional hearing is not the same thing as an ordinary court, and one’s lawyer cannot simply answer questions from a senator without permission nor sit in the incorrect seat.
WHOA: Sen. Rand Paul has had enough of Fauci’s antics, orders his attorney to be REMOVED from the hearing pic.twitter.com/rtRQiEPvDh
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026
Paul was in the middle of warning Fauci about the potential illegality of refusing to answer any questions in an informative way. “The chairman has denied your assertion of privilege and directed you to answer them. But you nonetheless refuse and stand on privilege, [so] despite the existence of the [Biden] pardon, the committee will have to consider after this hearing what appropriate action should be taken against you for the failure to testify after being directed to do so. It's against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress,” Paul cautioned. “There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today.”
Fauci’s lawyer, who had already defied instructions on which table he needed to sit at, at this point interrupted the proceedings. “You're not recognized. You're not recognized,” Paul repeatedly told the attorney. “If you are unruly, you will be removed from the proceeding. You are not recognized.”
Paul started to call security, then decided to give the attorney a second chance. “We'll hold off, but you will respect these proceedings. You were told not to sit at the table; you insist on sitting at the table, and we told you [that] you would not be recognized. You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disruptive. Would you behave this way in a courtroom? No, because the judge would put you in jail. I can't do that today, but I can have you escorted from the premises. So I would say, sir, sit quietly and don't say another word." Again, he warned, “Another word and you're gone.”
One of the other senators interjected, “So, Mr. Chairman, I'd like to hear what the attorney has to say.” Paul wasn’t falling for that gambit. “He is not recognized by the committee or the chair, if he speaks again, he will be removed from the room. This testimony is from Anthony Fauci. This is not a game with his lawyers. He can advise, his lawyers can give him advice, he's got a half dozen here. They're all allowed to talk to him.”
“But,” he continued, “the attorneys are not recognized. In fact, the attorney was told not to sit at the table, and he's not obeying that recommendation. There's a row behind you, sir. That's where you were told to sit, and you're not. And now you're disrupting the proceedings, and so, look, this is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered — for a lawyer not listening to the rules.” As the attorney continued to babble, “Security, please remove him from the room.”
One of the most damning contradictions between Fauci’s public and congressional testimony versus what he was saying in private regarded his journal admission that the COVID vaccines were not in fact effective at preventing transmission. In May 2021, Fauci said during an interview aimed specifically at children, “But if you get vaccinated, when the virus tries to infect you, the virus can’t because you are protected.” In November of that year, Fauci told Business Insider that he didn’t know what parents were waiting for to inject their toddlers with the COVID-19 vaccines.
As late as 2024, Fauci repeatedly referred to the vaccines as “highly effective” when testifying before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. Contrast that with his November 2021 entry describing his sleepless night of terror after a crowded event with all vaccinated people, because as he admits here, he knows perfectly well the vaccine does not prevent transmission.
[Fauci:] I was nervous all night looking at the ceiling concerned about having gotten infected in that very crowded restaurant despite the fact that vaccination proof was required to get in. I'm well aware that many people who are vaccinated are still getting infected and that worried me a lot.
That sure doesn’t sound as if he thought the vaccines were highly effective.
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