Commentary: Senate Republicans try to smear Fauci over COVID, but he refuses to play their game

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Set us as preferred There’s a comic trope beloved by playwrights, novelists and screenwriters about the fighters all suited up for battle, only to discover that their adversary refuses to play.A real-life example of this stratagem unfolded Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where Sen.Rand Paul (R-Ky.) convened a committee hearing aimed at trapping Dr.

Anthony Fauci into saying something under oath that Paul could use to prosecute him for perjury.Fauci, who was appearing before Paul’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee under subpoena, took the weapon out of Paul’s hands by simply refusing to answer a single question other than to state — 116 times by my count — “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the 5th Amendment to the Constitution.”What day of the week is it today? What color tie are you wearing?— Sen.

Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), tries to trap Anthony Fauci into abandoning his 5th Amendment defenseDuring the nearly three-hour hearing, Fauci’s response left Paul and his seven GOP colleagues on the panel confronting a brick wall.They resorted to the common, if infantile tactic of asking repeated simple but irrelevant questions in an attempt to embarrass their target.

“What day of the week is it today?” Sen.Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked.

“What color tie are you wearing?” He elicited the same boilerplate response.Commentary on economics and more from a Pulitzer Prize winner.By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver.

You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.Presumably most of the senators were aware that protocol requires a witness pleading the Fifth to plead it to all questions.

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