Attorneys for Dr. Anthony Fauci told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) that the former NIAID Director will not appear for a transcribed interview.
“Your letter derides Dr. Fauci for exercising the same constitutional rights we all have to protect ourselves. He did so in the face of repeated demands by your Committee chairman that he be prosecuted,” wrote attorneys David Schertler and Danny Onorato, as per a copy of the letter obtained by The Hill. The attorneys noted that should Congress compel his appearance, it would serve “no legislative purpose and would operate only to impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
“In keeping with the Senate’s past practice of respecting a witness’s Fifth Amendment rights once they have been invoked, Dr. Fauci should not be summoned to appear again,” they wrote.
Fauci was recently held in contempt of Congress by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
According to the resolution to hold Fauci in contempt, Fauci “concluded his prepared testimony by stating his intent to refuse to answer questions posed by the Committee, citing the right against self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” It explains that despite Fauci receiving a presidential pardon in 2025, “Chairman Paul found the privilege of the Fifth Amendment unsupported as applied to questions pertaining to the period of the pardon and directed Dr. Fauci to answer.”
Fauci pleaded the Fifth 111 times during his appearance before Congress last month, claiming that his decision stemmed from Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) “unhinged obsession” with him.
