Fauci Invokes Fifth Amendment in Senate Hearing on Covid Origins

Former top US health official Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a US Senate hearing about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, invoking the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being compelled to testify against themselves in a criminal case.

Fauci, who previously led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said he feared that Republican lawmakers, particularly Senator Rand Paul, would use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury. Paul had released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's pandemic-era writings days before the hearing, in which Fauci discussed fame and the origins of Covid.

"Although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government ... under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the constitution to refrain from answering your questions," Fauci said. He emphasized that taking the Fifth is not an admission of guilt but a protection against coercion and unfair burden-shifting.

Fauci accused Paul of having an "obvious obsession" with seeing him prosecuted, saying, "The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something - anything - that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars.'"

Paul continued questioning Fauci despite his refusal to answer, leading to tense moments. At one point, Paul directed a security guard to remove one of Fauci's lawyers from the room after the lawyer repeatedly tried to interject during Paul's questioning.

During opening remarks, Paul claimed that Fauci's diary entries contradicted his public statements about the virus's origins. Paul suggested that while Fauci publicly supported the natural origins theory, his private writings showed openness to the lab-leak theory, which posits that Covid originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.

The World Health Organization stated in 2025 that the natural origins theory—where the virus spilled over from animals to humans—remains the "best supported" explanation, but noted that conclusive determination is still pending. Fauci's diary entries reflect his initial consideration of both natural and lab-leak possibilities before leaning toward natural origins.