Former Prosecutor Suggests New Legal Strategy Against Fauci Following Senate Hearing

Kaitlin Housler
Judson Phillips

Tea Party Nation founder and former prosecutor Judson Phillips said U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) could pursue additional legal action against former White House COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci after Fauci repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Fauci, who was pardoned by former President Joe Biden on his final day in office, declined to answer questions before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination after stating he believed Paul was attempting to entrap him in a “perjury trap.” During the hearing, Paul’s committee also ordered Fauci’s attorney removed from the witness table after repeated interruptions.

Discussing the hearing on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Phillips joked, “By the time it’s all done, [Fauci] will probably be pleading for a fifth of Jack Daniel’s, Jim Beam, I don’t know what, but something because especially a man of his immense ego… today’s gonna be a brutal day for him.”

Phillips added, “If anybody deserves it, it’s him.”

The former prosecutor also defended Paul’s decision to have Fauci’s attorney removed after the lawyer interrupted the proceedings.

“There really do need to be consequences for the lawyer,” Phillips said, arguing the Senate possesses authority to sanction the attorney.

“The Senate has inherent contempt powers. They could do something about it. They could put him in jail for a while,” he said.

Phillips then raised what he described as a significant legal issue surrounding Fauci’s opening statement before invoking the Fifth Amendment.

“The Fifth Amendment is waivable, meaning you can give it up,” Phillips explained. “By conduct, you can waive your Fifth Amendment rights.”

He suggested Paul could argue Fauci forfeited those protections by first delivering prepared remarks to the committee.

“If Rand Paul really wants to play hardball with him, and personally, I think he should, he could bring him back, maybe even seek… a declaratory judgment that by making this statement, he has waived his Fifth Amendment privileges, his Fifth Amendment rights, and he cannot invoke that anymore,” Phillips said.

Phillips acknowledged such a legal challenge would likely face an uphill battle in Washington but argued the litigation itself would impose costs on Fauci.

“The end result would be Fauci would have to go to court in D.C.,” Phillips said. “He’d win at the D.C. trial level because there’s nothing but Democrat judges in D.C., even the ones that were appointed by Republicans. He would have to go to the D.C. Court of Appeals. He might even have to go to the Supreme Court. That’s gonna cost a lot of money.”

He added, “If you see Fauci’s diary, two things he’s in love with, himself and his money. He’s going to end up running out of some of that money if he has to keep paying these high-powered lawyers.”

Phillips concluded by agreeing that Paul had created what he characterized as a legal dilemma for Fauci.

“Two words, perjury trap, and that’s what Rand Paul was setting up here,” Phillips said. “And if I was advising Fauci, I would’ve told him to plead the Fifth too because it’s a perjury trap, and you know you’re walking into it.”

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. 

 

 

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