{"id":4501,"date":"2026-07-29T20:42:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4501"},"modified":"2026-07-29T20:42:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T20:42:36","slug":"fauci-accuses-rand-paul-of-unhinged-obsession-pleads-fifth-at-least-100-times-on-covid-origins-despite-full-biden-pardon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4501","title":{"rendered":"Fauci accuses Rand Paul of \u2018unhinged obsession,\u2019 pleads Fifth at least 100 times on Covid origins despite full Biden pardon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rather than simply declining to answer, Fauci opened the hearing with a pointed statement accusing Paul of weaponizing the proceeding against him. He cited Paul\u2019s \u201cobvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me,\u201d and the senator\u2019s decision to publicly release more than 1,000 pages of Fauci\u2019s personal pandemic-era diary over the preceding weekend.<\/p>\n

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Biden issued Fauci a preemptive, unconditional pardon in the final hours of his administration, covering any offenses connected to his NIAID directorship and pandemic-response roles for a decade-long window running from January 1, 2014, through January 19, 2025. That clemency, however, does not extend to statements Fauci makes now, and Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee argued that is precisely this that loophole Fauci is trying to avoid by refusing to testify. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News that \u201cBiden\u2019s pardon doesn\u2019t cover Dr. Fauci\u2019s testimony this week and if he continues to lie, he must be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, \u2018behind bars,’\u201d Fauci said, adding that \u201cany reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.\u201d He said invoking the Fifth \u201cpains\u201d him given his \u201cdecades-long record of cooperating with Congress,\u201d but that he would do so under the advice of his attorneys.<\/p>\n

Republicans push back on the legal basis<\/h2>\n

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) directly challenged the constitutional footing of Fauci\u2019s strategy, telling him he does not possess any rights under the Fifth Amendment due to his pardon from Biden, and that invoking the 1896 Supreme Court precedent\u00a0Brown v. Walker<\/em>\u00a0to argue a pardoned witness cannot \u201cstand upon his privilege.\u201d Paul similarly warned that Fauci\u2019s Biden-era pardon \u201cwill not shield him from legal action for obstructing Congress,\u201d and that the panel would consider next steps, including a possible contempt referral, after Fauci refused dozens of questions on gain-of-function funding, Wuhan lab oversight, and intelligence-community coordination.<\/p>\n

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The hearing also produced a dramatic sideshow when Paul ordered Fauci\u2019s attorney, David Schertler, removed from the room after he repeatedly tried to speak without being recognized. Paul noted that Fauci would still have \u201cthe advice of the other half a dozen attorneys\u201d he brought with him.<\/p>\n

Questions Fauci wouldn\u2019t touch<\/h2>\n

Across the hearing, Fauci declined to answer on a consistent set of flashpoints:<\/p>\n

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