We’ve seen it countless times: the dramatic courtroom scene. It could be an attorney, or it might be the person testifying. But someone in a courtroom delivers a stirring speech that makes the difference in a case or makes a statement altogether.
The courtroom scene is a hallmark of scriptwriting. From To Kill a Mockingbird to A Few Good Men to countless episodes of Law & Order, writers love a good grandstanding courtroom speech. And on Wednesday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) delivered a takedown of Dr. Anthony Fauci that screenwriters could easily drool over.
Paul reminded Fauci and everybody watching and listening of the costs of Fauci’s COVID-19 policies:
The COVID lockdown could never have been inflicted without you aiding and abetting the crime.
Children lost years of education, small businesses built over a lifetime disappeared, patients delayed cancer screenings and other medical care, families were separated from dying relatives, workers were ordered to accept a medical procedure or lose their jobs, worship assembly, employment, education, and travel were restricted in the name of science.
While you did not impose every restriction, you used your public authority to justify them.
Sen. Rand Paul to Anthony Fauci:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026
"The COVID lockdown could never have been inflicted without you aiding and abetting the crime.
Children lost years of education, small businesses built over a lifetime disappeared, patients delayed cancer screenings and other medical care,… pic.twitter.com/ZY1XCkqvHb
My own experiences during that period bear witness. My dad was in a hospital with cancer ravaging his body, with family unable to visit him (and a cellphone that went dead because a nurse misplaced his charging cable). By the grace of God, he came home with hospice, and we got to spend his last two days with him as a family. I was on staff at my church at the time, and even in the first state to open back up, we felt compelled to continue weird protocols for months “out of an abundance of caution” — a phrase I never hope to have to utter again.
Related: COVID Left Churches Reeling. Six Years Later, Some Are Stronger Than Before.
We can’t ignore the damage that Fauci’s COVID policies did to businesses, churches, and even some families. Some politicians dutifully followed them for months and even years after the danger of the first waves of the pandemic was long gone.
Side note: Keisha Lance Bottoms, who famously declared that “Atlanta Isn’t Ready to Reopen—And Neither Is Georgia,” now wants to run the Peach State. The Atlanta mayor demanded that people wear masks outside long after Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) opened the state back up. We have to hold her accountable by making sure she never holds public office again.
Paul savaged Fauci for his word games on gain-of-function research:
On May 11, 2021, you told the Senate the NIH has never, ever, and does not now fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When I gave you the opportunity to correct the record to reconsider the statement, you responded that you had never before lied to Congress. We were then told that only the government's narrowest regulation of definition counted here. That you could define gain-of-function in one way in which this was not gain-of-function, in which all of the common sense of the world be thrown out…
The American people were not asking for a semantics debate over what is gain-of-function. They were asking, does common sense say this research was dangerous in Wuhan? They wanted to know whether their money funded experiments in Wuhan that made bad coronaviruses better able to infect humans. The answer is, yes.
🚨Sen. Rand Paul details one of MANY lies Anthony Fauci told the public:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026
"On May 11, 2021, you told the Senate the NIH has never, ever, and does not now fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. When I gave you the opportunity to correct the… pic.twitter.com/WCx7if7vlf
Finally, and possibly most devastatingly, Paul pointed out that the biggest thing that Fauci and his league of arrogant scientists did was destroy trust in institutions — possibly rightly so, but it happened under Fauci's watch nonetheless.
There will be another pandemic. There will be another crisis. And there will again be officials that insist uncertainty must be hidden for the public's own good. They will demand obedience. They will invoke science. “I am the science!” as though it were a commandment. They will argue that government officials cannot be questioned, because questioning them would undermine public trust. They have it backwards.
It is secrecy that destroys trust. It is arrogance that destroys trust. It is censorship that destroys trust. And it is the refusal to admit error that destroys trust. That loss of trust may be YOUR MOST DAMAGING LEGACY.
Trust can't be ordered. It has to be earned. No scientist is above scrutiny. No government official is beyond accountability. And no public servant has the right to treat suffering of millions of Americans as a footnote to his preferred version of history.
🔥Sen. Rand Paul SKEWERS Fauci as he concludes his opening remarks:
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026
"You are here today under duress. You are here today because of the court ordering it. President Biden issued you a sweeping parting, extending back to 2014 — the same pardon he gave to his son, Hunter.
A… pic.twitter.com/bpTEf7DYbW
Of course, we watched as Fauci pleaded the Fifth repeatedly. We gleefully enjoyed Paul ejecting Fauci’s attorney from the chambers. But it’s hard to imagine a more cinematic moment than those opening remarks from Paul. Good stuff.
PJ Media paid a real price for telling the truth about COVID when Big Tech, advertisers, and the so-called fact-checkers wanted everybody to fall in line. We were demonetized, throttled, and punished for asking the questions that people like Anthony Fauci insisted were off-limits. But we kept asking them anyway. Join PJ Media VIP today and help us keep holding the powerful accountable. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member