Joe Biden handed Anthony Fauci a pardon on his way out the door to shield him from prosecution.
Fauci sat in front of a Senate committee and pleaded the Fifth more than a hundred times anyway.
And a pardon was not about to get in the way of humiliating Anthony Fauci.
The Pardon Question Republicans Say Blows Up Fauci's Fifth Amendment Claim
Anthony Fauci walked into the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Wednesday and did something he has never done in more than 250 appearances before Congress.
He pleaded the Fifth.
More than a hundred times, by multiple counts, Fauci recited the same scripted line every time a Republican senator asked him a question about the origins of Covid and his handling of the pandemic response.
Here is the part Fauci's legal team does not want your Democrat neighbors thinking too hard about.
Biden's pardon already covers Fauci for anything he did on the pandemic through January 2025.
If the pardon already protects him, Republicans argue, there is nothing left for Fauci to incriminate himself over.
"You don't have any rights under the Fifth Amendment," Hawley told him flatly, reminding Fauci that the Supreme Court has never let a pardoned man hide behind a privilege he no longer needs.
Moreno was blunter.
He asked Fauci who he thought he was.
Hawley then asked Fauci a question that carried zero legal exposure of any kind.
He asked what color tie Fauci was wearing.
Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment anyway.
The same man who spent years dictating lockdowns, mask mandates, and school closures for 330 million Americans would not answer a question about his own necktie.
Then Paul Had Fauci's Own Lawyer Removed From the Room
Rand Paul was not having it.
"There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today," Paul told him.
That is when one of Fauci's attorneys tried to jump in and object without being recognized.
Paul was already finished being patient.
He warned the lawyer once, then twice, then had Capitol Police escort him out of the room while the gallery applauded.
"This is the way Anthony Fauci wants to be remembered – for a lawyer not listening to the rules," Paul said as security walked the attorney out.
Paul told reporters after the hearing that the committee will vote next week on a resolution to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress, with a possible referral to the Justice Department to follow.
Democrats on the committee spent the hearing running interference instead of asking their own questions.
Gary Peters spent his time accusing Paul of re-fighting old battles and dismissed the whole hearing as political theater.
Fauci used his opening statement to accuse Paul of an obsessive vendetta against him, name-checking Paul's book cover and fundraising emails as proof.
McCarthy and Flynn Show Why Fauci's Shield Might Finally Crack
Democrats keep telling America that pleading the Fifth is just Fauci exercising a constitutional right, nothing to see here.
Except the last time Congress actually tried to nail someone to the wall over a Fifth Amendment plea, it did not go well for the accuser either.
Back in the McCarthy era, a Senate committee tried to hold a witness in contempt for taking the Fifth and got smacked down in federal court for it.
Michael Flynn walked the same tightrope years ago and never spent a day in jail for it, because contempt of Congress citations almost never turn into real consequences without a Justice Department willing to prosecute.
That is exactly why this fight matters now in a way it never did before.
Trump's Justice Department does not have Joe Biden's incentive to look the other way, and Paul knows it.
Well, that is except that the President is still praising Operation Warp Speed to this very day.
A pardon does not erase documents, and it does not un-say whatever Fauci refused to say on the record this week.
Fauci spent decades being untouchable in this town because Democrats needed him to be.
Rand Paul just spent one hearing proving that shield only works as long as nobody is willing to test it.
The only question is whether this administration actually plans to or not.
Sources:
- Hannah Knudsen, "Fireworks: Sen. Rand Paul Promises 'Repercussions' for Fauci's Refusal to Testify, Ejects Fauci's 'Unruly' Lawyer," Breitbart, July 29, 2026.
- "Watch: Sens. Hawley, Moreno Dismantle Fauci's Refusal to Answer: Can't Invoke Fifth Because You've Been Pardoned," Breitbart, July 29, 2026.
- "Fauci's refusal to testify could have big consequences, Rand Paul warns," Fox News, July 29, 2026.
- "Rand Paul says holding Anthony Fauci in contempt will get a Senate panel vote," The Hill, July 29, 2026.
