Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to discuss his handling of the COVID pandemic. It was a complete mess, as all the uncomfortable details were revealed, Fauci was questioned intensely, and he pleaded the Fifth 111 times. The baseline defense of this is that he’s trying to avoid perjury traps, which, in this hearing, wouldn’t be covered under Biden’s blanket pardon.
On CNN last night, Ryan Goodman, a New York University law professor and legal scholar, gave a harsh assessment of Fauci’s performance in a segment with host Erin Burnett, saying it worsened the situation for the former NIH official. He also questioned what his legal advice was.
CNN's Erin Burnett asks an NYU law professor if Fauci is in real trouble after pleading the Fifth 111 times.
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) July 30, 2026
His answer: It made things WORSE.
BURNETT: "112 times to invoke the Fifth Amendment. I mean, you can't even string all that together… Will that strategy work? Because… pic.twitter.com/MylhVka3sb
BURNETT: "112 times to invoke the Fifth Amendment. I mean, you can't even string all that together… Will that strategy work? Because he says, well, 'I had to do that because, you know, they're looking for perjury traps,' or does that just make it worse and is he in real trouble?"
GOODMAN: "I think it makes it worse. It's even a curious way in which you wonder what his legal advice was, why they decided to do that. Because he does not face criminal jeopardy for the pardon. In all likelihood, he's pardoned for all actions before January 2025. But that also means that you're forced to testify."
"That's how prosecutors use immunity or pardons. And they say now you're forced to testify because you don't have any criminal liability… So then to plead the Fifth is actually he could then be held in contempt. There could be theoretically, at least, a Justice Department that goes after him for not answering when he is not really facing that criminal charge."
BURNETT: "And also when the reason [to plead the Fifth] is perjury traps... to the layperson, it's saying, well, 'Why wouldn't you just say the truth? What would be the problem in that?' So... it doesn't sound good."
Fauci has hired attorney David Schertler, who has a reputation for being the go-to lawyer for the political class when they find themselves in ‘oh no, I’m screwed’ territory.
A contempt vote will be held next week.
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