Washington: Former US chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci faces being held in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions about the pandemic’s origins at a heated public hearing, citing his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Fauci, an infectious diseases expert who helped steer the US through the pandemic – first under Donald Trump and then under Joe Biden – was summoned to provide evidence about long-held claims that US-funded research in Wuhan led to the virus’ outbreak.

The 85-year-old, who retired in 2022, accused Republican committee chairman Rand Paul of having an “unhinged obsession” with him. He made a brief opening statement and then refused to answer any questions, including about the day of the week or the colour of his tie.

“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 of Paul.

“Therefore, although it pains me to do so ... under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions.”

Republican lawmakers still attempted to question Fauci over the ensuing three hours, prompting him to plead the Fifth each time. Fox News reported that he invoked the amendment 111 times.

The high-profile hearing came just two days after Paul – Fauci’s long-time congressional nemesis – released more than 1000 pages from the doctor’s personal diary during the pandemic.

Among other things, the entries painted a picture of a health bureaucrat who, having become the public face of the pandemic, meticulously tracked his media appearances and how he was being portrayed in various TV, newspaper and magazine profiles.

“The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable,” he wrote after a “very flattering” front-page piece about him in The Washington Post in May 2020.

“It is not hyoperbole [sic] to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson [sic] in the world.”

Fauci’s diary included appearances on Australia’s 60 Minutes and a discussion with the Doherty Institute’s director Sharon Lewin, who “said that I am a ‘household name’ in Australia”.

In late October 2020, as Melbourne emerged from its record-breaking COVID lockdown, Fauci praised the actions of then-Victorian premier Daniel Andrews.

“The Australians had zero new infections in the entire city of Melbourne yesterday proving that pure public health measures such a mandatory mask wearing ($1000.00 fine) and avoiding crowds actually works,” Fauci wrote on October 27, 2020.

The primary purpose of Paul’s committee hearing, five years after the pandemic subsided, was to interrogate Fauci about US government-funded research at a laboratory in Wuhan, China where some believe COVID-19 originated.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) for years gave grants to a New York non-profit called EcoHealth Alliance, which used some of the funds to help conduct “gain of function” research with Chinese laboratories studying coronaviruses commonly carried by bats.

Gain of function research is the practice of enhancing a virus in a lab to study its potential real-world impacts. It includes general research as well as especially risky experiments.

Fauci and the NIH have long maintained that the viruses studied using EcoHealth Alliance funding were genetically distinct from the one that caused COVID-19, including in his private diary entries. At Wednesday’s hearing, Paul accused Fauci of semantics.

“When you defended this research you described its benefits in the broadest terms,” he said. “But when Congress demanded accountability, you hid behind the narrowest possible definition. You can’t have it both ways.”

At one point, one of Fauci’s lawyers, David Schertler, attempted to speak from the witness table on behalf of his client, leading Paul to ultimately order his removal from the room.

“You’re disputing the proceedings. You are not recognised, sir,” Paul said. “Security, please remove him from the room.” Some people in the gallery applauded, and Schertler was escorted outside by a security guard.

Paul promised there would be “repercussions” for Fauci’s failure to answer questions. For years, the libertarian-leaning Republican senator has accused Fauci of lying to Congress over the NIH funding of coronavirus research, and called for him to be indicted.

In his opening statement, Fauci pointed out he briefed or testified before Congress “well over 200 times” during his 38 years as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

That included multiple appearances during and after the pandemic, including “several days-long transcribed interviews, answering questions about the very issues that are now the subject of this hearing”.

Before leaving office in 2025, Biden pre-emptively pardoned Fauci for any offences he may have committed in his official roles between January 1, 2014 and January 19, 2025, Biden’s final day.

Paul argued the pardon nullified Fauci’s capacity to plead the Fifth. At Wednesday’s hearing, Paul specifically asked Fauci whether, during the period of his pardon, he destroyed any federal records, or instructed anyone else to. Fauci also pleaded the Fifth to that question.

Paul said the committee would vote next week on whether to find Fauci in contempt. “He has cited a privilege that is unsupported because of his blanket pardon, and because he waived the privilege by testifying at the start.”

The Department of Justice will then decide whether to bring criminal charges through a grand jury. “All I can do is recommend prosecution,” Paul told reporters.

Democrats defended Fauci. Gary Peters, the top Democrat on the committee, said Wednesday’s hearing was a witch-hunt, abuse of congressional power and re-litigation of the past.

“One-sided investigations designed to validate pre-determined conclusions do not serve the American people,” he said.

Republicans rounded on Fauci following Wednesday’s hearing.

“[During the pandemic] there was no camera he couldn’t find. No interview he couldn’t give. No American life he wouldn’t micromanage,” said Republican senator Ted Cruz of Texas.

“Today, when the country finally demanded answers, the man who never stopped talking suddenly went silent.”

Republican senator Josh Hawley, who tried to get Fauci to answer questions about the colour of his tie or the carpet in front of him, said: “No honest person pleads the Fifth.”

Trump posted on Truth Social saying he warned Biden at the time that Fauci “either didn’t have a clue or was dishonest”. Biden “went on to give Fauci vast destructive power”, Trump said. “The rest is history!”

With AP