CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Fauci Chose to “Take the Fifth” and Left Too Many Questions Unanswered

Photograph Source: NIAID – CC BY 2.0

We all make choices. Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on July 29. Subpoenaed to testify about his handling of the COVID pandemic and the questions surrounding the origins of the virus, Fauci declined to answer the committee’s substantive questions, a striking departure from his previous appearance before the House in 2024, when he answered questions for hours and defended his actions and decisions during the pandemic.

Fauci began his testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic with,“Thank you for this opportunity to testify.” Two years later, before the Senate Committee, he said: “Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect that I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, 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’s decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment before Congress put him in an unusual but well-established American tradition. Government officials like Oliver North have relied on the constitutional protection when congressional questioning threatened to expose them to possible criminal liability. Many Hollywood figures such as Abraham Polonsky and Carl Foreman “Took the Fifth” before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) during the “Red Scare” when faced with congressional questioning about........

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