This week on Capitol Hill, MAGA-aligned U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) was one of many senators on the Senate Homeland Security Committee who questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci regarding his tenure as Chief Medical Advisor to President Trump and President Biden during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking issue with Fauci’s lawyer-advised decision to plead the Fifth Amendment repeatedly throughout the proceedings, Hawley asked questions intended to highlight Fauci’s reluctance to answer, including “What day of the week is it today?,” “What color tie are you wearing?” and “What color is the carpet in front of you?”
Fauci, who also served as Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, continued throughout to plead the Fifth Amendment, though in an opening statement he asserted that committee member Rand Paul (R-KY) had an “unhinged obsession” with him, and that Paul’s purpose was “to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars.”
[NOTE: Fauci received a blanket pardon from President Biden that covered his actions from 2014 through January 19, 2025. The pardon terms would not protect him from any statement made during testimony now that could lead to a perjury charge. Fauci is 85 years old.]
Hawley shared a clip of their exchange on social media, and wrote: “Hint for you: no honest person pleads the Fifth.”
Hint for you: no honest person pleads the Fifth https://t.co/a9wErOa1WE
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 29, 2026
Trump critics including former U.S. Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and liberal political commentator Harry Sisson are criticizing Hawley for the comment and reminding the senator that President Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 440 times during a four-hour deposition related to a criminal probe in New York in 2022.
In a statement released at the time, Trump explained his decision after saying he was asked why an innocent person would “take the Fifth.”
Trump wrote: “Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice. Accordingly, under the advice of my counsel and for all of the above reasons, I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”
The question had been posed to him after he criticized his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton’s aides for pleading the Fifth Amendment during inquiries about her email server.
Oh ok. Hey Josh, any comment on this? https://t.co/VN2DRfmAc4 pic.twitter.com/qXrFmyzUeY
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) July 29, 2026
[NOTE: U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) said he wasn’t surprised Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment. When asked by CBS News whether Fauci’s hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee was a “perjury trap” and whether he should have responded to some of the questions, Fetterman said, “I’m not there to embarrass him or to defend or praise him.”]
“It’s no surprise that he was taking the Fifth like that,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said Wednesday when asked whether Dr. Anthony Fauci’s hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee was a “perjury trap.”
“I’m not there to embarrass him or to defend or praise him,” he… pic.twitter.com/2qN3R0sjJD
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 29, 2026