Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) didn't just question Anthony Fauci on Wednesday. He dismantled him methodically in front of the entire country, using nothing but public records, a Supreme Court precedent, and a series of questions so basic that a child could have answered them.
Fauci had exactly one response prepared for every question senators asked him during the hearing: a canned invocation of his Fifth Amendment rights.
The only problem is that Fauci doesn't have Fifth Amendment protection anymore. President Biden pardoned him in the final hours of his term, which means that Fauci cannot legally "stand upon his privilege," as the Supreme Court ruled all the way back in 1896.
Hawley knew that. He built his entire line of questioning around forcing Fauci to demonstrate it to the world, starting with the simplest possible setup.
"Well, nothing says honesty like taking the fifth, huh, doc?" Hawley asked. "Let's try something. What day of the week is it today?"
"On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution," Fauci said.
Hawley asked what color tie Fauci was wearing.
Same answer.
He asked what color the carpet was in front of him.
Same answer again.
Three questions. Zero risk of self-incrimination. Three invocations of a constitutional right that, thanks to his own pardon, Fauci doesn't legally possess anymore.
That's when Hawley reminded him.
"Let's just get one thing straight, you don't have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you've been pardoned," Hawley said. "As you very well know, as the Supreme Court has been clear for a century and more, Brown v. Walker, 1896. When he has been pardoned, he may not stand upon his privilege."
Related: ’Who the F**k Do You Think You Were?' Moreno Destroys Fauci During Hearing
From there, Hawley moved from exposing the absurdity of Fauci's stonewalling to laying out exactly why Fauci was hiding behind it. The answer, according to Hawley, is money.
Hawley walked through how Fauci, while Americans were dying by the hundreds of thousands during the COVID-19 pandemic, directed his own staff to solicit cash prizes on his behalf, using federal time, federal resources, and federal email accounts. Hawley named the staffers: Greg Folkers and Patricia Conrad, Fauci's chief of staff and personal assistant. Both, Hawley said, spent government time chasing awards for their boss.
One of those awards was the Dan David Award, worth $900,000. Hawley read from an email Folkers sent seeking help padding Fauci's nomination. "I'm working on this nomination for the Dan David Award for Fauci," the email read, according to Hawley. "We need to beef up the COVID part. Do you have language in the can that you can share that delineates how we responded in new ways to COVID?"
That wasn't the only prize on the list.
Hawley cited the Partnership for Public Service Award, the Adelson Prize, the Smithsonian Award, the National Academy of Medicine Award, and an award from the CDC Foundation, all pursued using federal employees on the taxpayers' dime.
"You turned your staff into a full-time application machine," Hawley said. He noted Fauci's staff didn't stop at applying. They pressured federal ethics officials to approve the payouts. "We want to get to yes because Fauci wants the money," one email read, according to Hawley.
Federal law bars government employees from soliciting cash awards or personal benefits, and it bars using subordinates to do it for them. Hawley cited the regulation by number, 5 C.F.R. Section 2635.205(b), and dared Fauci to explain how none of it applied to him.
Fauci said nothing. He couldn't.
Hawley closed by putting Fauci's fortune on the table. Fauci's net worth now tops $12 million. His pension paid out more than $400,000 in its first year alone. Fauci built all of it, Hawley argued, while a million Americans died and he was busy chasing awards and sitting for glossy magazine profiles.
"You could sit for InStyle magazine, but you can't answer questions for the American people," Hawley said.
Then came the closing blow. Hawley told Fauci that his silence spoke louder than any answer could have.
"Silence is admission," Hawley said. He accused Fauci of turning the pandemic into a vehicle for personal glory, calling him "a narcissist and a megalomaniac and a liar" who "disgraced" his own profession. "You've done more to harm science than anybody in my lifetime," Hawley told him. "I hope you'll go home and write that in your diary."
Senator Josh Hawley's questioning of Dr. Fauci was a masterpiece.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) July 29, 2026
Watch him SQUIRM under the pressure. pic.twitter.com/js5yJzjUFO
I bet he will.
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