{"id":1163,"date":"2026-08-01T11:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T11:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163"},"modified":"2026-08-01T11:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T11:07:13","slug":"the-failures-of-the-fauci-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163","title":{"rendered":"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

About an hour into Dr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s appearance before a Senate committee last week, Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, expressed skepticism about a passage in Fauci\u2019s personal diary regarding the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. \u201cDid you literally<\/em> lie to your own diary?\u201d Johnson asked. For a second, Fauci almost seemed to laugh, and there was a glimpse of the public-health official who had charmed much of the country during the pandemic, with his air of amiable competence. But the moment passed. \u201cOn the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer, based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,\u201d he said. He repeated that line dozens of times in the course of three hours, looking more sombre and reserved and\u2014at the age of eighty-five\u2014notably older than he had six and a half years ago, when the world first became acquainted with the SARS<\/em>-CoV-2 virus.<\/p>\n

Read more Forget Albums\u2014Pop Stars Measure Their Careers in Eras Now<\/a><\/p>\n

Fauci\u2019s decision to take the Fifth was understandable. The hearing was engineered by Senator Rand Paul, who has accused the doctor of lying about the origins of COVID<\/em>-19 in order to cover up his own supposed culpability and misdeeds. Fauci, in a brief opening statement, said that the senator had an \u201cunhinged obsession with me,\u201d and had made \u201cslanderous comments.\u201d It was Paul\u2019s office that released Fauci\u2019s diary\u2014more than a thousand pages of notes, articles, and internet memes\u2014which was apparently retrieved from a government computer at the behest of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who now oversees the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where Fauci worked until 2022. A measure of Paul\u2019s approach is the title he gave the entries: \u201cTony\u2019s Diary!,\u201d in Barbie-pink script, with a heart dotting the letter \u201ci.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Fauci led NIAID<\/em> for thirty-eight years and played a laudable, lifesaving role in combatting both H.I.V.\/AIDS<\/em> and COVID<\/em>-19, but since his retirement he has had to live with not only mockery\u2014President Trump has called him an \u201cidiot,\u201d a \u201cphony,\u201d and a \u201cterrible \u2018athlete\u2019\u00a0\u201d\u2014but with death threats. In January, 2025, President Biden pre\u00ebmptively pardoned Fauci for any federal crimes related to his public service during the prior eleven years, citing the possibility of \u201cunjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.\u201d But the pardon wouldn\u2019t protect him from a state prosecution or from any perjury charge that could be drummed up from his testimony now. In any event, Paul said that he would try to get Fauci charged with contempt of Congress.<\/p>\n

Yet Fauci\u2019s silence was a loss. Paul may have come at the matter with theatrics and ill will, but some of his questions, in their most basic forms, are worth exploring, because the debate about where the novel coronavirus came from is ongoing, divisive, and important. One scenario, which Fauci has favored, involves a naturally occurring jump from bats to humans, probably via some other species; another postulates a lab leak, most likely from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, in the Chinese city where COVID<\/em>-19 first emerged. Some of the Wuhan lab\u2019s work involved developing new variants of coronaviruses. (Embedded in the Fauci-Paul conflict is a genuine dispute over the definition and risks of what is called \u201cgain of function\u201d research.) The institute also received funding from NIAID<\/em>, via a sub-grant from a nonprofit. According to NIAID<\/em>, however, the coronaviruses that were the subject of that grant were not closely related to the one that caused the pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n

Fauci, in his opening statement, noted that he had testified before or briefed Congress \u201cwell over two hundred times\u201d in his long career, including on COVID-19<\/em> and its origins. When he was confronted by Paul at a 2021 hearing, Fauci gave as good as he got. He may feel that he doesn\u2019t have much left to say\u2014asked and answered. But he had a unique role in a traumatic mass experience that is still being felt and assessed. Paul isn\u2019t the only one who\u2019d like to hear more.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, after all, Fauci was an influential voice in the government response to the pandemic, and in some ways served as its anchor. There are many aspects of the early days that seem surreal now: the mobile morgues in New York City, the daily banging of pots and pans, and the juncture in which Donald Trump treated Fauci as his brainy sidekick. That relationship inevitably turned bad, as the President became impatient with the pandemic and demanded politicized boosterism from Fauci.<\/p>\n

Read more Glen Hansard\u2019s Street-Corner Stories<\/a><\/p>\n

If the diary entries are any indication, Fauci, in the midst of the pandemic, also savored his own press coverage and lionization. There are too many mentions of Julia Roberts and of Fauci bobblehead dolls. In the hearing, Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, accused Fauci of being on a narcissistic \u201cpower trip\u201d (which is the kind of journey that Hawley himself seems to relish). In Fauci\u2019s defense, idolatry is a group effort. Thousands of Americans were buying those bobbleheads, and someone had to publish the flattering articles he read with pleasure. Particularly after his split with Trump, Fauci became something of a politicized totem, for better and worse.<\/p>\n

Despite the near-miracle of the vaccine, which became available in December, 2020, there was much about the pandemic response that was far from perfect, in both blue and red states. Why, for example, wasn\u2019t there an all-government effort to get schools reopened sooner and more consistently? There were reasonable concerns about infection and the impact on teachers and on vulnerable family members. Still, the costs of those closures have become more clear with each passing year.<\/p>\n

In the hearing, Senator Gary Peters, Democrat of Michigan, observed that \u201cit\u2019s tempting to turn one person into the scapegoat\u201d in a crisis for which \u201chundreds of officials\u201d across two Administrations were responsible. Paul and his Republican colleagues did not resist that temptation. Paul ejected one of Fauci\u2019s lawyers. Senator Bernie Moreno, of Ohio, told a story about a woman who he said had been arrested for watching a middle-school football game, from mostly empty bleachers, without a mask, and punctuated it by snapping at Fauci, \u201cWho the fuck do you think you were for doing that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Watching Fauci as he sat listening was a reminder of how little anyone really knew back in 2020. Most of the world was fumbling and scared, and Fauci seemed to have some idea of what to do. But, even acting on the best evidence available, and with the best of intentions, there were times when he, too, must have been guessing. Realizing that truth would be a route toward not only better preparedness going forward but also a more general granting of grace. If Fauci has regrets about the pandemic, he wouldn\u2019t be alone.\u00a0\u2666<\/p>\n

Read more Abdul El-Sayed\u2019s Argument for America\u2014and Against His Own Party<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amy Davidson Sorkin on why, although Senator Rand Paul, who engineered the hearing, may have come at the matter with theatrics and ill will, Dr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s decision to take the Fifth Amendment, rather than testify, was a loss. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1162,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comment"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Failures of the Fauci Hearing - City Relocation News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing - City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amy Davidson Sorkin on why, although Senator Rand Paul, who engineered the hearing, may have come at the matter with theatrics and ill will, Dr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s decision to take the Fifth Amendment, rather than testify, was a loss.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"City Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-01T11:07:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\"},\"headline\":\"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T11:07:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163\"},\"wordCount\":1167,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Comment\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163\",\"name\":\"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing - City Relocation News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-01T11:07:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?p=1163#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"City Relocation News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cityrelocationnews.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing - City Relocation News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing - City Relocation News","og_description":"Amy Davidson Sorkin on why, although Senator Rand Paul, who engineered the hearing, may have come at the matter with theatrics and ill will, Dr. Anthony Fauci\u2019s decision to take the Fifth Amendment, rather than testify, was a loss.","og_url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163","og_site_name":"City Relocation News","article_published_time":"2026-08-01T11:07:13+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4"},"headline":"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing","datePublished":"2026-08-01T11:07:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163"},"wordCount":1167,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp","articleSection":["Comment"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163","url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163","name":"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing - City Relocation News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp","datePublished":"2026-08-01T11:07:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/59ee182d4231387b4b43dbca42559152.webp","width":1280,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?p=1163#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Failures of the Fauci Hearing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/","name":"City Relocation News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/#\/schema\/person\/3e7ce0c0c60d21e12a5ac61fb2b786d4","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com"],"url":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cityrelocationnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}