I found extensive coverage of Fauci’s Fifth Amendment invocation from multiple outlets, but I haven’t found a specific direct quote from Janice Dean calling him a coward. Let me work with what I’ve verified from the coverage. The search results show general reactions from X/Twitter users calling Fauci a coward, but I need to be careful to attribute the “coward” comment accurately. From the Twitchy roundup, I can see Stephen L. Miller posted “He’s a coward” but the headline references Janice Dean specifically. Since I cannot find her exact quote in these search results despite comprehensive coverage, I should note this and focus on what I can definitively source.
Looking back at my search results, I see the Twitchy article aggregates X reactions but doesn’t specifically attribute the “coward” quote to Janice Dean in the excerpts provided. The headline in the user’s request attributes this to her, but I cannot verify her exact quote from the search results. I’ll write the article based on what I can definitively source from the coverage, being careful to attribute reactions only to those I can verify.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination on Wednesday as he appeared before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29 in Washington, DC, and was subpoenaed by Kentucky senator and committee chair Rand Paul.
Repeatedly, Fauci said, “Under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”
Fauci invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 100 times throughout a high-profile and often-contentious hearing that Republicans had hoped would open him up to claims of perjury.
“The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,'” Fauci said of Paul.
Fauci said that it pained him to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights, but said he was doing it because it seemed clear “that the sole reason [Paul] is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.'” “Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion,” he said.
The committee chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has accused Fauci of knowingly being involved in funding controversial gain-of-function research in China before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Republican senators said there would be repercussions.
“It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress. There will be repercussions to your refusal to testify today,” the senator said.
Homeland Security Chair Sen. Rand Paul said the committee will vote on a contempt resolution against Fauci next week.
Democrats defended Fauci’s constitutional protection.
“That’s what I wish we were trying to address in a bipartisan way,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said to Fauci. “But instead we are here in an attempt to entrap you, because you had a distinguished career trying to put Americans’ public health first.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said the hearing is part of a “campaign against science” that “has made this country less safe.” “If there are valid scientific questions about the origins of this pandemic … they should certainly be addressed, but not in a show trial, not as part of a continuing vendetta against a single individual,” Blumenthal said.
Conservative critics erupted on social media over Fauci’s refusal to answer questions.
“Anthony Fauci is a monster and pleading the 5th is grotesque and every mainstream platform outlet that put him on a pedestal should be ashamed,” said Rep. Jimmy Patronis, R-Fla.
“The Fifth Amendment is not legitimate,” added conservative author and attorney Ann Coulter. “The Fifth is for past crimes — for which Fauci has already been fully pardoned. I don’t think the Biden admin thought this through,” she said on X.
Republican senators during the hearing also pressed Fauci with sharp accusations.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, asked Fauci, “Here I am, sitting in front of you six years later saying, who the fuck do you think you were for doing that? It is a total disgrace what you did to this country.”
Other Republicans, including Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, criticised Fauci for avoiding their questions. “Well, nothing says honesty like taking the Fifth, huh, doc?” Hawley said.
Fauci was expected to be questioned about his diary entries during his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the viral moment that prompted the hearing, Sen. Rand Paul released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci’s personal diary entries covering December 2019 through December 2022, revealing his private thoughts about COVID-19’s origins, his transformation into a public figure, and his handling of the crisis.
Paul alleges Fauci’s notes show he covered up evidence supporting the “lab leak” theory, and in a thread on X over the weekend, Paul wrote that the diary entries show what Fauci “wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories.”
Fauci accused Paul of publishing his private diary from his time at NIAID, a move he said was “aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me.”
Sen. Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of the doctor’s personal diary this week, and Fauci has remained a polarizing political figure with his handling of the pandemic facing renewed scrutiny.
The committee will vote on a contempt resolution against Fauci next week.