Hawley trolls Fauci's blanket Fifth Amendment claims exposing 'contempt for this body'
Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions from Congress extended to simple facts, including the day of the week and the color of the tie he was wearing.Fauci,...
By Fox News · Fox News
Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci’s refusal to answer questions from Congress extended to simple facts, including the day of the week and the color of the tie he was wearing. Fauci, 85, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination about as many times as his years alive on Earth, despite Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul , R-Ky., and Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., asserting that he did not have that right given his current legal status. Hawley cited a Supreme Court case from 1896, where President Benjamin Harrison’s appointee Justice Henry Brown ruled that a witness granted statutory immunity from prosecution could nonetheless be compelled to testify because his immunity displaced pleading the Fifth. FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH 'ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION' AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES In that case, an auditor for a Pittsburgh railroad unsuccessfully challenged a contempt charge for refusing to answer grand jury questions. Hawley turned to Fauci and tested his repeated Fifth Amendment invocations throughout the hearing, quipping, "Doc, let’s try something." "What day of the week is it today?" Hawley asked Wednesday. Fauci replied with his boilerplate invocation of the Fifth Amendment. "What color tie are you wearing?" Hawley asked. Fauci declined to answer, again invoking the Fifth Amendment. ‘PRIVILEGED’ HUNTER BIDEN, SPARED BY DAD’S PARDON, BLASTS TRUMP’S CLEMENCY POWER "Let's just get one thing straight. You don't have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you've been pardoned, as you very well know," he said, invoking the 1896 Brown v. Walker case . Hawley, who is also an attorney, added that the legal reality was likely why Fauci’s remaining attorneys were "shifting nervously" behind him. A top Fauci attorney, David Schertler, had previously been ejected by Paul after refusing to take his assigned seat and remain quiet. "This isn't about the law. This is about contempt, contempt for this bod…