Democratic New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan lamented on Wednesday that Dr. Anthony Fauci had to testify before the Senate and claimed that the purpose of the highly anticipated hearing was to “entrap” him.
“Dr. Fauci, I want to start by thanking you for more than 50 years of service to this country at the National Institute of Health, and it is unfortunate that you have been put in the position that you are in today,” Hassan said at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing.
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“And it must be enormously frustrating to know that this hearing is designed to entrap you,” the senator continued. “It must be very frustrating for your attorneys to hear the chair’s mischaracterization of the legal issues and posture that impact your decision at the witness table today.”
Fauci served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022 and as President Joe Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor for two years. He held a leading role in the heavily scrutinized U.S. public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak during which he advocated for stringent lockdowns as well as mask and vaccine mandates.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who chairs the committee which Fauci was brought in front of to testify, had for years been a prominent critic of the public health official. Paul had notably accused Fauci of lying about alleged U.S.-taxpayer funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, where many say the COVID virus leaked from.
Fauci continually pleaded the Fifth during the hearing and refused to answer questions from Senators, including questions about what the Fifth Amendment means and what color tie he was wearing.
(DCNF)