Opinion

JONATHAN TURLEY: Fauci took the Fifth, but his diary may have already answered for him

Dr. Anthony Fauci had every reason to fear Wednesday's Senate hearing after his diary revealed startling contradictions

By Jonathan Turley Fox News

Published July 29, 2026 3:14pm EDT

Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google

close

Video

JONATHAN TURLEY: Fauci’s Fifth Amendment silence betrays the science he sold America

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley joins Fox News Digital to break down all the latest news on Fauci's hearing.

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

"Stick with the science and never veer from that, even when the science turns out to be an inconvenient truth for somebody." 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, delivered those words to Georgetown students in 2017 as the touchstone of medical ethics.

On Wednesday, before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Fauci replaced that line by repeatedly saying, "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."

FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH 'ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION' AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES

The optics could not have been worse, but what you saw depended largely on how you viewed the hearing. For critics, Fauci sounded like Crazy Joe Gallo without the sunglasses. 

For supporters, Fauci is still a hero who refused to fall into a trap laid for him. Democratic senators such as Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., actually praised Fauci for refusing to answer questions before Congress.

There is no question that it is Fauci's right to invoke his privilege against self-incrimination, and many advised him to do so. The privilege can be invoked for strategic reasons separate from any criminal culpability. After all, he was given a last-minute pardon by President Joe Biden, and any false statements he made before the committee could be used to bring criminal charges against him.

Some of the most embarrassing areas for Fauci concerned his entries acknowledging that he pushed to close schools despite public denials that he ever recommended such closures. 

However, Fauci is unlike many who have invoked........

© Fox News