Former NIAID director refuses to testify before Senate committee, citing legal advice.
During an appearance before a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) during the pandemic, declined to answer questions about the origins of COVID-19.
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“Following the advice of my attorney, I respectfully decline to answer based on my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” he said, while lamenting the “excessive obsession” directed against him.
Fauci justified his silence by arguing that Republican Sen. Rand Paul had called him to testify in order to put him “behind bars.”
For years, their relationship has been marked by tensions. On numerous occasions, Paul has argued that Fauci should be in prison because he believes Fauci was responsible for funding research in China that triggered the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main point of their disagreement is whether the coronavirus originated naturally, as Fauci maintains, or in a laboratory, as Paul contends.
Over the weekend, the Republican senator published more than 1,000 pages from Fauci’s diary, and on Tuesday, more than 100 scientists published a letter defending him against President Donald Trump’s attacks.
.@SenRandPaul: “In early 2020, your hand-picked virologist warned that the virus appeared to have been manipulated in the lab. In a conference call concerning the origin of the virus, all but two of the participants believed deliberate insertion was possible. Your concern was not… pic.twitter.com/LfiY7KgGEj
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 29, 2026
On Wednesday, through the Truth Social network, the Republican leader questioned Dr. Fauci’s handling of the pandemic and attacked former President Joe Biden.
“Many more people died of Covid under the Biden Administration than under the Trump Administration. ‘Operation Warp Speed’ was a SPECTACULAR SUCCESS, in fact, many say, one of the most successful things ever done by an American President. I overrode Fauci on this,” Trump stated.
“His ideas were CRAZY! Also, I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China. I Inherited Fauci, who was there since the 1980’s, but with each passing day, relied less and less on him. He made too many bad calls, like on MASKS. Remember at the beginning he was an anti-masker.”
“He then switched to a super-masker. In any event I didn’t let him shut the Country down, although he wanted to. I went the Federalist way, and let the governors decide. The Republican governors did a much better job than the Dumocrats.”
“Fauci was largely taken out of play, and then along came Sleepy Joe Biden, who made Fauci a ‘King!’ I called Biden to tell him Fauci was no good, either didn’t have a clue, or was dishonest. The call was well received, but sadly, not acted on. Biden went on to give Fauci vast destructive power. The rest is history!,” Trump concluded.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – Truth Social
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