Anthony Fauci Takes the Fifth
Rand Paul has long been out to get Dr. Anthony Fauci, and now as a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he finally has his chance. President Biden pardoned Fauci, but a pardon doesn’t cover lying to Congress, so Fauci has invoked the Fifth Amendment more than a hundred times because he can’t tell the truth without incriminating himself. The committee has split along predictable lines, with sharp questioning from republicans and something close to sainthood being conferred by democrats. While Ohio’s Bernie Moreno excoriates Fauci, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin posts this:
Remember when post-Covid, yard signs appeared saying “I believe Dr. Fauci”? His word was gospel in democrat-run states, which followed his guidance on social distancing, masking, school closures and lockdowns, sometimes backed by policing so aggressive it made those states look almost authoritarian. Republican-run states were less heavy-handed but still adopted most of what Fauci recommended. Through it all, Fauci was a superstar and he clearly relished the attention. In response to criticism he famously said “I am the science” asserting that the criticisms directed at him are fundamentally “attacks on science.” He consistently said that his recommendations were evidence-based and stated that the scrutiny he faced is not just personal but posed a threat to the integrity of science itself.
At the time, I questioned the saintly Dr. Fauci and was roundly criticized for it. I had been writing a business column for the Knoxville News-Sentinel’s Sunday section for ten years. When Gannett bought the paper, the new editor moved my column to the Opinion page without telling me, then informed me I could quit if I didn’t like it. It was clear they didn’t like how I saw the world. So instead of business, I started writing opinion. My Covid piece took on the local health department’s Fauci-inspired mandates. I argued against school closures, citing research showing children were less susceptible to the disease and unlikely to transmit it. I listed every local mandate, said I could find no scientific basis for any of them, and called for them to be lifted. The paper, firmly in the keep-everyone-scared camp, refused to run it. I quit and posted the piece on my blog instead.
Time proved me right. Evidence later showed the mandates did little good and, in the case of school closures, real harm. Studies found scant difference in the incidence of Covid rates between Democrat-led states that followed Fauci’s guidance to the letter and Republican-led states that took a lighter touch. I never understood the bans and crowd limits on outdoor events, and I was glad my two home states, Georgia and Tennessee, at least declared turkey hunting as an approved outdoor activity. Since I was travelling from Knoxville to Atlanta to visit my mother I actually welcomed the absence of traffic in Atlanta.
What angered me most, though, was the shutdown of churches. When my mother died of natural causes at 101, we weren’t allowed an in-church service. We were limited to twenty people at her graveside. I suppose Covid only spread once a twenty-first person showed up. I will never forgive the city of Atlanta for denying the thousands of people whose lives she touched the chance to honor her passing and tell her goodbye.
Even a casual observer could see that the elderly, the obese, and those with underlying conditions were especially vulnerable to Covid, while the young and healthy were not. But Fauci was unwavering claiming all were equally at risk. Biden went along with it, and we all paid the price. Bad advice from a presidential advisor isn’t a crime. What looks far more serious is that Fauci may have lied about, and helped cover up, the origins of the disease. That brings us to gain-of-function research. Fauci has consistently denied the U.S. funded such research at the lab in Wuhan, yet it now appears the U.S. did fund experiments there. I’ve always found it hard to believe that Covid’s emergence in Wuhan was pure coincidence. Fauci maintained the virus came from an animal market while other scientists argued its molecular structure looked more like something engineered in a lab.
So the questions remain. Why was the U.S. funding dangerous research in a Chinese lab in the first place? Did the disease originate there? Who is responsible? It’s no surprise Fauci is taking the Fifth. He was adamant in dismissing the lab-origin theory, yet his own diary now reportedly describes the U.S.-funded work in Wuhan as “gain of function.”
Why else would Fauci refuse to testify? As director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, he told the Senate in 2021, in response to questioning from Rand Paul, that the NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” Fauci’s own diary and documents later released by the NIH contradict that statement, showing that NIH grants funded controversial gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Fauci clearly lied to the Congress for which he could go to jail (which is what Paul really wants).
I wonder if those yard signs will make a comeback, this time in support of Fauci’s decision to plead the Fifth.
BTW, what happened to Deborah Birx?
haroldblackphd.com 
Close. You stated that he (Fauci) cannot tell the truth without incriminating himself. He just cannot tell the truth. Hence his need for a pardon. It would improve the temperament of the country to see him appropriately and publicly punished.
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Agreed. What he did was criminal.
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Deborah Birx has been on TV – without scarves- to give a medical opinion, similar to those said by other interviews.
Even a few days ago, someone in appropriately named site called Hot Air, said this :
..”And then she bragged about it in her autobiography, confident that
‘ Pravda ‘ would applaud her.
Well, guess what? She was never pardoned by Joe Biden, by autopen or by hand. She is completely open to prosecution for her own crimes against humanity…
….”Not that I am lawyer enough to know exactly what crimes she committed, ..
..”but if there were ever cases where prosecutors at the federal and state levels should try, Fauci and Birx should be taking a look..”
We only know about these two because TRUMP appointed them. TRUMP, who takes credit for everything should also be imprisoned- because TRUMP put them out in the spotlight as authorities..
I will admit. The politics of Covid are more dangerous than the disease..
This essay might also mention a guy who I never stop hating – Larsen Jay- but recall his being sued for bringing sandwiches to the Health Dept…
And I recall Hal Hill on-air thanking nurses for their dedication, with his callers attacking nurses as being complicit in a crime..
I would be more concerned with why Doctor Rand Paul went for politics , rather than continue his own medical practice.
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I don’t mind physicians serving in the congress. At least they had real jobs once. To date 54 have been in the senate. Currently there are four: Paul, Cassidy, Barrasso and Marshall – all republicans.
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Both government and healthcare are shared risk socialism. Best I can say – it’s bipartisan.
And I refer to your 2nd page KnoxFocus usurper, DR. Ferguson – who is absolutely insane in his Republican ideations.
All the medical education and public access is not an indication supporting public good.
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Just in case anyone missed my point: I had never heard of Fauci or Birx, nor had I ever seen them – until they were standing next to DONALD J. TRUMP.
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To me, the real crime is the shouting down of dissenting views. The Great Barrington document was a focused and data based challenged to all things Fauci/Birx, and was attacked viciously by Fauci to the point of reputational damage to its authors.
The entire episode was also the beginning of the acceleration of institutional corrosion in this country. We now question everything (not a bad thing in the age of AI), but the default is to disbelieve. What are “experts” anymore if they seek their own glory and lie to expand their own largesse? It used to be that experts like Fauci were heroes and near mythological gods. Now, they’re discounted “‘WOLF’ criers” that nobody listens to, instead listening to the weberazzi and the legion of amateur snake oil peddlers.
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Of course the coauthor of the document is now ironically head of NIH and acting CDC director.
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I’ve been saying for years that Anthony Fauci needs to be hung by his… “toes”
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Larry, Fauci is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022 and as Chief Medical Advisor to the President from 2021 to 2022.
Trump didn’t appoint Fauci, he inherited him from Big Pharma NIAID. Biden made him Chief Medical Advisor.
The real question is how deep does this go? Did the Chinese leak this virus in cahoots with some Americans that wanted Trump gone? China probably wanted rid of Trump more than Larry. Bill Gates, Big Pharma? Who all made tremendous profits? What did Fauci know and when did he know it……..
But I 100% agree with Pat. The lack of true scientific debate on Covid was a terrible fail by the government and media. Anyone with another view was called a science non believer…….which is exactly not how the scientific method works.
Trump’s biggest mistake was not listening to Sweden’s head medical guy. I guess he was the only guy not on the big pharma payroll.
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Do you mean Anders Tegnell or Johan Giesecke? Sweden did not have the lockdowns or closures but had a hight mortality rate than the other Nordic countries. Tegnell admits they probably made some mistakes but most of the deaths were among the elderly. This all will take some time to unravel – if ever. I think the Big Pharma travesty was getting holistic treatment trashed – like ivermectin.
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Sweden’s COVID Approach vs. Others + Debt Impact vs. USA Strategy:
Sweden stood out by avoiding strict lockdowns. It relied on voluntary recommendations (distancing, work-from-home, protect the vulnerable), kept schools (up to age 16), restaurants, and most businesses open. This contrasted with mandatory lockdowns in much of Europe and the US.
Health Outcomes:
Excess mortality** (best holistic metric) was among Europe’s lowest for 2020–2022 (~4.4% above baseline, lowest or near-lowest in many analyses). Early 2020 spike in Sweden; neighbors delayed peaks. Cumulative Nordic results were comparable, with Sweden often better long-term.
Other Benefits: Stronger economic recovery, no major learning losses in elementary schools, limited mental health fallout.
National Debt Impact (vs. USA): Far milder in Sweden due to smaller stimulus needs.Sweden**: Debt-to-GDP rose modestly from 36% (2019) to 40% (2020 peak), then fell below pre-pandemic levels (32-34% by 2022-2023). Remains very low (34-35% in 2025).USA**: Sharp jump (e.g., 105% → 126%+ in 2020) from massive relief packages; stayed elevated (118%+ range). Persistently higher trajectory.
Bottom Line: Sweden’s lighter approach yielded comparable/better excess mortality than many strict-lockdown countries, with superior economic/educational outcomes and almost no lasting debt burden—unlike the US, where debt rose substantially and durably. Results reflect timing, demographics, trust in institutions, and policy scale. Data from Eurostat, OWID, national stats, IMF, etc.
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Fascinating. I’ve never been someone who disregarded the ideas of Europeans.
This does remind me of my friend in Scotland , who got a US stimulus check. Her American relatives were infuriated, because she had limited ties and no American presence. This was an indication that Covid would cost America..
BTW : altho I cartied all precautionary equipment for moving around town, I I never isolated. And people forget- – our county sheriff refused to enforce the shutdown per Repub. Gov. Bill Lee.
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Thanks for replying. Yes people that are medical leaders hang around a long time, just like politicians…
My wife, who is remotely involved with medical research, looked into Fauci, a name she was unfamiliar with . She did find that he offered field work to some of the medical students—that was also a part of a government contractor which she eventually worked for. She found no wrong.
I remember praise from Mike Pence, and other leaders about how Donald Trump had handled Covid, when it first was an issue. Trump must take the credit and the blame…
The fact that you portray Trump as a victim of the system, and put it all on Biden, is a no-starter for me.
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