Anthony Fauci's lawyer booted from Senate hearing after lecture from Rand Paul

Dr. Anthony Fauci's lawyer was ordered removed from a heated Senate hearing after he tried to speak in defense of the infectious disease expert, who is refusing to answer questions about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of what he described as a years-long partisan crusade intended to smear him. Fauci's lawyer, David Schertler, was escorted from the room after the Senate Homeland Security Committee's Republican chair Rand Paul warned of 'consequences' and 'repercussions' for Fauci's refusal to testify on Wednesday. 'Another word and you're gone!' Paul shouted to Schertler as he tried to speak after Fauci's opening statement. After his brief opening remarks, the 85-year-old former National Institutes of Health official invoked the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and declined to answer the committee's questions. Paul later defended his decision to eject Schertler from the hearing. 'You don't get to do that. That's one thing you give up when you take the Fifth Amendment,' he said. 'You don't get to put your lawyer forward to justify. You can do it in the press. ... He was out of order and it was appropriate to have him ejected.'