Fauci’s Choice
By Bob Gaydos
Dr. Anthony Fauci at Senate hearing.
“Did Fauci help himself?“
That was the question. It could just as easily have been, “Did Fauci hurt himself?” Actually, I think that really was the question.
The short answer was and still is, “I don’t know.”
But we’ll soon find out.
To me, it seemed obvious that the decision by Dr. Anthony Fauci to respond to every question from the Senate Homeland Security Committee by invoking the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination was simply Fauci following the advice of counsel. No one looks good repeatedly invoking the Fifth Amendment, but no one gets indicted following that procedure either.
With Senate Republicans, especially committee chairman Rand Paul, looking to make good on Donald Trump‘s desire to get revenge on all his perceived enemies, the hearing was clearly intended as a trap before it began. The big question was where the land mines were planted.
Fauci having been preemptively pardoned by Joe Biden in 2023 for any and all actions taken while Fauci was in charge of the government’s response to the Covid pandemic, Republicans needed something new with which to charge Fauci.
That could be contempt of Congress by not showing up at a hearing or lying to Congress about something that happened after the date of the Biden pardon. That’s probably what Paul was looking for and he was aided with a copy of Fauci‘s personal diary which he kept while in office. That was given to the committee, unredacted, by Health Secretary Bobby Kennedy Jr., a notorious anti-Vaxer who disagreed with Fauci’s approach to Covid, which included vaccines.
Not knowing what material the committee might have and concerned that Fauci might not accurately remember what he wrote in his diary or said to someone at some point, the lawyer said, simply, take the Fifth.
And Fauci did so, even when other Republican committee members ventured into the absurd by asking about the time of day, what color tie he was wearing and other nonsense in an effort to make Fauci look, well, guilty. One congressman even got obscene. In the process, they just looked petty. Routine for Republicans these days.
As for the wisdom of Fauci deciding to invoke the Fifth, one might look to an expert, Fauci’s primary protagonist, Donald Trump. The man who once said you should never trust anyone who invokes the Fifth Amendment, actually followed his counsel’s advice and invoked it more than 400 times in his Stormy Daniels trial in Manhattan. (It didn’t help.) Trump has also invoked the Fifth many times in depositions in a variety of cases over the years. He undoubtedly learned that lesson from his early counsel, Roy Cohn, who also taught it to Mafia goons. Looking guilty to the public doesn’t put you behind bars, Cohn counseled. Saying something stupid (contrary to verifiable facts) to the police, Congress or in court can. There’s a reason for the amendment.
So, did Fauci help himself? It depends on what you mean by “help.” Some of the heroic bloom is obviously off the rose with Fauci, but that’s life. I still don’t know if he has anything to hide. I don’t think Republican committee members came off looking great and I don’t think Paul gained any points except with the hard core MAGAs. He’s been out to get Fauci ever since the doctor tossed the “liar” charge back at Paul, an ophthalmologist, at a hearing in 2023. He’s now threatening to hold a contempt vote on Fauci for his “refusal to answer questions.”
Life is full of choices. We all have to live with them. Help or hurt, Fauci made his.
Tags: Biden, Cohn, contempt, Covid, Fauci, Fifth Amendment, guilty, Rand Paul, Republicans, Senate, trump
