Dr. Anthony Fauci repeatedly pleads the Fifth and his lawyer is thrown out in Senate hearing bombshell

WASHINGTON -- Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment at the start of his Wednesday hearing, ripping Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for 'unhinged' remarks and claiming the only purpose of the Homeland Security Committee's investigation was to put him 'behind bars.' 'Given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars,'' said Fauci. 'Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.' The ex-NIAID director went on to take the Fifth at least a dozen more times as Paul pressed him about the risks of so-called 'gain of function' research in China.