Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment right at Paul's hearing

Anthony Fauci, former chief White House medical adviser, invoked his Fifth Amendment right on Wednesday when he appeared before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing held by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In his opening remarks, Fauci blasted Paul's 'obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.' The two have a yearslong history of butting heads at congressional hearings. '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,’' Fauci said. 'Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion,' he added. '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 to the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.'