Four Mistakes Fauci Made When Pleading the 5th Yesterday

The legal strategy that may have backfired

Fauci made four mistakes while pleading the 5th before Congress yesterday:

FIRST MISTAKE

Once a witness opens the door to a topic, the witness cannot then plead the Fifth with regard to that topic. And Fauci’s opening statement opened many doors widely, including when he claimed he had a “decades-long record of cooperating with Congress,” including “during and after the COVID pandemic” when he “appeared multiple times for hearings in the Senate and the House.” That puts the question of whether he properly cooperated when responding to questions in all of those hearings, including prior questions from Senator Paul, directly at issue.

Here is his full statement, including additional areas where he opened the door broadly:

I served at the NIH for over 54 years, 38 of those as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Over that period, I proved that I believe in and respect the value of legitimate congressional oversight. In fact, I testified before and/or briefed Senate and House committees well over 200 times over those 38 years.

During and after the COVID pandemic, I have appeared multiple times for hearings in the Senate and the House, usually under oath, and sat for several days-long, transcribed sworn interviews answering questions about the very issues that are now the subject of this hearing.

However, given Senator Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently, his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary, aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something – anything – that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’ Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.

Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect 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.

SECOND MISTAKE

The Fifth Amendment can only be used when answering a question which would present real and appreciable danger. Thus, his use of the Fifth during the hearing for questions that clearly don’t meet this standard, including about the color of his tie and what day of the week it is, reflects its improper use during the hearing overall.

THIRD MISTAKE

Since invoking the Fifth is question-specific, announcing before even hearing the questions that he would “refrain from answering [the committee’s] questions” under the Fifth was itself improper.

FOURTH MISTAKE

Finally, ignoring the broad presidential pardon he received, as if it doesn’t exist, including for questions that would clearly fall within the parameters of that incredibly broad pardon, was a misstep that may come back to bite him later.