00:02Republicans say they will seek to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly invoked the Fifth
00:09Amendment during a heated Senate hearing on the COVID pandemic and his role in public policy.
00:15The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases refused to answer questions from lawmakers Wednesday, saying
00:23more than 100 times that his attorneys advised him to invoke his constitutional right against self-incrimination.
00:30Fauci accused committee chair Rand Paul of trying to trap him into making statements that could be used against him
00:36after Paul recently released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci's personal diaries.
00:42Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.
00:54Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government
01:03and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys,
01:11I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions. Thank you.
01:21Republicans called Fauci a villain and focused their questioning on the origins of COVID, federal funding for virus research in
01:28China, and whether Fauci misled Congress about the government's response to the pandemic.
01:34But the real question is, was it dangerous? Was it a wise decision to fund this? And you haven't deviated
01:41from that. You've never admitted that it could have been a mistake funding this research in China.
01:46The hearing grew even more contentious when Fauci's attorney tried to address the committee. Paul refused to recognize him, then
01:54called for Capitol Police to escort him out.
01:57Democrats, meanwhile, argued the hearing was less about finding answers and more about targeting Fauci.
02:04And it is unfortunate that you have been put in the position that you are in today.
02:09And it must be enormously frustrating to know that this hearing is designed to entrap you.
02:16The hearing followed the release of Fauci's diaries and internal records, which Paul says raised questions about Fauci's public statements
02:23to the American people during the pandemic.
02:25The White House has also launched a website promoting the lab leak theory as the origin of COVID, though the
02:32virus's origin remains disputed.
02:34The hearing also drew a response from President Trump, who said he watched it all.
02:38Well, I watched the whole thing today, but more importantly, I was a part of the whole Fauci. I inherited
02:43Fauci.
02:44But Fauci wanted to have nobody wearing masks, if you remember, and then everybody had to wear five masks, as
02:50many masks as you could get.
02:51I mean, he made a lot of mistakes, and he wasn't a big factor for me. He was a very
02:57big factor for Biden.
02:58Paul says the committee will vote next week on whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
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