Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly invokes the Fifth in dramatic Senate hearing about Covid pandemic | CNN Politics

Dr. Anthony Fauci spent decades nurturing his reputation as the government’s most recognizable, most accessible and often most voluble authority on the nation’s public health crises. But on Wednesday, under intense scrutiny and the ever-present threat of prosecution, Fauci spent a congressional hearing that spanned well over two hours uttering only a single, 24-word sentence: “Under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.” The retired government scientist, who guided the US Covid-19 pandemic response across two administrations, invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 100 times throughout a high-profile and often-contentious hearing that Republicans had hoped would open him up to claims of perjury. The committee chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, has since vowed to force a vote next week holding Fauci in contempt of Congress over his refusal to testify, extending a yearslong investigation aimed at validating his and other Republicans’ belief that Fauci orchestrated a cover-up of the origins of the coronavirus. Yet in the meantime, the hearing that Paul ha