Sen. Josh Hawley Grills Dr. Anthony Fauci: "Nothing says honesty like taking the Fifth!"

[0:00] Senator Hawley. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, nothing says honesty like taking the fifth, [0:05] huh, Doc? Let's try something. What day of the week is it today? On the advice of counsel, [0:17] I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the [0:21] Constitution. What color tie are you wearing? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline [0:27] to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. What color is the [0:32] carpet in front of you? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my [0:41] rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Let's just get one thing straight. You don't have [0:45] any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you've been pardoned. As you very well know, [0:49] as the Supreme Court has been clear for a century and more, Brown versus Walker, 1896, [0:54] when he has been pardoned, he may not stand upon his privilege. You know that. Your lawyers sitting [1:00] behind you now shifting nervously in their chairs. They know it. This isn't about the Constitution. [1:05] This isn't about the law. This is about contempt, contempt for this body and contempt for the [1:09] American people. But I think I know why you're doing it. It's because you don't want to answer [1:14] questions. It's because you did all kinds of terrible things. It's because during the pandemic, [1:20] you got rich, didn't you? You got rich while people were dying, hundreds of thousands of Americans, [1:27] over a million in the end. And you were getting rich. And not only were you doing that, you were using [1:32] federal employees with taxpayer money to apply for and solicit cash prizes for you personally. [1:41] Cash prizes totaling over a million dollars. You did all of that during the pandemic, didn't you? [1:49] That's a question. On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my [1:55] rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. You remember Greg Fulkers? Who was that? [2:00] On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth [2:06] Amendment to the Constitution. Your chief of staff is the answer. Do you remember Patricia Conrad? Who [2:11] was that? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my rights under the [2:17] Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Uh-huh. She was your personal assistant. And what were these [2:22] individuals doing in the depth of the pandemic? In November of 2020, when millions of Americans were [2:28] suffering from COVID, what were they doing? I'll tell you what they're doing. Fulkers was on your [2:32] behalf, soliciting and gathering information for a cash award. Let's look at it. We've got his email [2:39] right here, right over my shoulder. Fulker says, I'm working on this nomination for the Dan David [2:45] Award for Fauci. We need to beef up the COVID part. Do you have language in the can that you could share [2:50] that delineates how we responded in new ways to COVID? He sends this to multiple federal employees. [2:56] What was the Dan David Award? Do you remember, Doc? [2:58] On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth [3:06] Amendment to the Constitution. It was a $900,000 cash award. $900,000 cash award. And he got it [3:17] because he used federal employees to get it. And this wasn't the only award, was it, Dr. Fauci? In fact, [3:24] you applied for and received at least eight other federal cash prizes on federal time using federal [3:32] employees and federal resources. Here they are over my shoulder. Besides the Dan David Award, you've got [3:37] the Partnership for Public Service. You've got the Adelson Prize. You've got the Smithsonian Award. You've [3:41] got the National Academy of Medicine Award. You've got the CDC Foundation. In fact, you turned your staff [3:46] into a full-time application machine. You actually wrote to people and said, do you think maybe I'd [3:52] qualify? And you got cash for all of this. And it wasn't just one or two employees, was it? In fact, [3:58] you used eight separate federal employees on federal time using federal resources to solicit cash awards. [4:07] Isn't that true? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully declined to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth [4:14] Amendment to the Constitution. Here they are right over my shoulder. Here's all of them. The people that you [4:19] use federal employees so that you could go and get cash money, and the most hilarious part is that you [4:26] weren't content to even dragoon them into applying for all of these cash awards. You then had them go [4:32] out to the ethics agencies and ethics watchdogs and demand that you be able to get the money. [4:39] That's right. We've got it in your emails. Your staff and employees on federal time using federal [4:47] resources being paid with federal dollars are soliciting cash for you. And then they're turning [4:51] around and saying to the agency, we don't want just an answer. We want to get to yes, because Fauci [4:57] wants the money. He wants it. We want to get to yes. And yes takes time. This is your chief of staff [5:05] again, using federal email to pressure the agency's own ethics people so that you could get money so that [5:13] you could get rich and it violated the law, didn't it? Dr. Fauci, didn't it? It violated the law, [5:23] didn't it? It is a question you can answer. Go ahead. On the advice of counsel, I respectfully [5:30] decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Federal law, [5:35] as you very well know, prohibits the solicitation of cash awards or other personal benefits for [5:42] federal employees. And it certainly prohibits using your own employees to do this. Five CFR, [5:50] Section 2635 205 B. It says it right there in black and white. You cannot use federal resources, [5:59] federal dollars, federal employees, federal offices, federal email, federal time to solicit cash awards. [6:06] And you did all of it. And the worst part is thousands of people were dying while you were doing [6:10] it. You were supposed to be the nation's doctor and you're playing one on TV. But this is what you [6:15] were doing with your time. Isn't that true? On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer [6:24] based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Yeah. Yeah, I can see why. [6:30] I can certainly see why. You know what I can't quite figure out is that why you were so obsessed with it [6:36] because you're already rich. I mean, and your scheme worked here. I mean, you're not worth now is north [6:41] of 12 million dollars. You got over a million dollars in cash awards during COVID during a 12 [6:49] month, 24 month span during COVID. A million bucks you knocked down in cash money using federal resources. [6:57] Now you're worth more than 12 million dollars. You've got a pension that in its first year paid [7:02] out north of $400,000 a year. A million people dead. You're getting rich. A million people dead. [7:09] You're using federal employees to get cash awards for you. A million people dead. And you're here taking [7:16] the fifth because you don't want to admit that what really happened in all that time was a multi month, [7:21] multi year course of self dealing. Isn't that true? Dr. Fauci on the advice of counsel, I respectfully [7:30] decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. Yeah, we'll silence his [7:36] admission. And here's the real thing. At the end of the day, it wasn't just about the money really, was it? It was [7:42] really about a power trip. I mean, through all of this, you you want to be the most famous scientist in the [7:48] world. You were so focused on getting every award and every drop of cash that you could, all because you wanted to be [7:54] on TV. You wanted to be the sun god of science. You wanted to be the guy who was in charge of it all. You [8:00] wanted to blambass Trump. You wanted to make sure that nobody else stole your spotlight. You wanted to [8:05] be the guy you had time to sit for in style magazine. Here's what you were doing with your time. You [8:13] could sit for in style magazine, but you can't answer questions for the American people. You could sit [8:19] for in style magazine, but you're here taking the fifth. You could sit for in style magazine and get a [8:24] million bucks in cash awards. But now the cat's got your tongue. I bet he does. I tell you what, [8:31] here's my conclusion from all of this. This was really all about you the whole time. Somewhere [8:36] along the way, you lost your way. You may have been a good public servant at one time. I don't know. [8:42] But I can tell you from reading your emails now, from looking at what you did, how you used your [8:46] employees, somewhere along the line, it became all about you. You became a narcissist and a megalomaniac [8:54] and a liar. And you've lied to the American people and you've lied to this body. And you've disgraced [8:59] your profession by doing it. You called yourself the most famous scientist in the world. You've done [9:04] more to harm science than anybody in my lifetime. And I hope you'll go home and write that in your [9:08] diary. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Fetterman.