Former U.S. Health Secretary Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions during a U.S. Senate hearing on the cause of the COVID-19 outbreak. He was concerned that Republican lawmakers would use his testimony to convict him of perjury.
He cited the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that no individual “shall be compelled to be a witness against himself in any criminal case.”
Days before the hearing, Republican Senator Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s pandemic-era writings, in which he mulled over fame and the origins of the coronavirus.
Fauci said Paul holds a grudge against him. He said he had previously testified about Covid under oath at several congressional hearings.
Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said, “Out of respect for the legislative branches of government, although it pains me to do so… on the advice of my attorney, I will exercise my Fifth Amendment right not to answer your questions.”
Taking the fifth principle is not an admission of guilt. It is designed to protect individuals from coercion, mistake and unfair burden shifting.
Fauci said Paul did not answer questions this time because of his “clear obsession” with incriminating himself.
“The only conclusion I can reach is that the only reason he called me to this committee was to get me to say something that would substantiate his repeated public promises that I would end up behind bars,” Fauci said.
Paul continued to question Fauci despite his refusal to answer. The hearing was tense at times, with one of Fauci’s lawyers repeatedly trying to interrupt during Paul’s questioning. Paul ordered the guard to remove him from the room.
In his opening remarks, Paul argued that Fauci’s diary entries contradicted what he had told the American people about the origins of the virus.
Paul suggested that while Fauci has said publicly that COVID-19 originated naturally, he privately believed the virus originated in a medical laboratory. The senator has repeatedly promoted the theory of a lab leak that COVID-19 originated in China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.
In 2025, the World Health Organization said the theory of natural origins, or the spread of the virus from animals to people, was the “best supported” idea by available evidence, but said origin determinations were “inconclusive” until more information was available.
Fauci’s diary entries reflect his openness to two possible theories for the origins of the coronavirus, including a natural origin and a laboratory leak, at the start of the pandemic, after which he appears more confident that it has natural origins.
