As I wrote this week, Dr.Anthony Fauci was not the only one taking the Fifth on Wednesday over his record during the pandemic.
The media largely invoked the same privilege to avoid self-incrimination for its years of deifying the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Across the cable networks, hosts and guests were having the vapors as Republican senators pummeled Fauci over his COVID-19 policies and the glaring contradictions found in his diary entries.
Some, like Dr.Scott Ratzan, echoed Fauci's previous claim that any questioning of his judgment was an attack on science.Once again, Fauci had every right to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.
That does not mean it was the right thing to do.Fauci already had a pardon that notably extended back to 2014, when his agency approved gain-of-function research at the Wuhan lab in China.
Any prosecution would be difficult in light of the pardon.It would not be impossible, since he could be charged with perjury for any false statements.
Yet that was the same threat that existed during countless prior hearings involving Fauci.So what was the difference now? The answer is found in diary entries and other evidence that contradict Fauci's public statements on subjects ranging from the lab theory to school closures.It is not that Fauci would have been tripped up by false answers, but that he did not have any obvious answers to some of these criticisms.FAUCI PRIVATELY TOOK CREDIT FOR COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS DESPITE PUBLIC DENIAL, NEWLY EXPOSED DIARY ENTRIES REVEALInstead, Fauci invoked the privilege 111 times.
That fell short of the record of Vito Genovese, who invoked the privilege 150 times.Rather than address the long list of criticisms and contradictions involving Fauci, the media rallied around the scientist.Fauci was portrayed as something akin to the St.
Sebastian of Science, taking barbs and arrows for his faith.It did not matter that more than 1.2 milli...