Sen.Rand Paul, R-Ky., raised doubt on whether Dr.
Anthony Fauci had the legal right to plead the Fifth Amendment 111 times at a heated congressional hearing Wednesday after receiving a presidential pardon."The legal question is, if you're pardoned, can you really claim the Fifth?" he said on "The Will Cain Show." "The Fifth Amendment is to claim immunity from self-incrimination.But if you've already been given immunity, you can't self-incriminate unless you lie.""I don't know how you plead the Fifth Amendment to something you've already been granted immunity for," he added.Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is moving on a vote to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer any questions about his COVID-19 pandemic response or gain-of-function research.FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH 'ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION' AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGESAnthony Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and medical advisor to several U.S.
presidents, testifies under subpoena about his role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic, at a U.S.Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 29, 2026.
(REUTERS/Nathan Howard)Fauci was pardoned by former President Joe Biden in January 2025 after Biden said the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases could potentially face "unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions" by the incoming Trump administration.Paul’s comments come days after he released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci’s personal diary entries spanning from 2019 through 2022.FAUCI'S NEWLY RELEASED COVID DIARIES REVEAL BIZARRE FIXATION ON FAME AS PANDEMIC DEATHS MOUNTEDThe journals chronicle Fauci's day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic, detailing his apparent obsession with newfound fame and his belief that it was "not hyperbole" t...