Senator Josh Hawley Confronts Dr. Anthony Fauci Over Cash Awards During COVID-19 Pandemic

[00:00] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:02] Well, nothing says honesty like taking

[00:03] the fifth, huh, doc?

[00:06] Let's try something.

[00:08] What day of the week is it today?

[00:13] >> On the advice of counsel,

[00:15] I respectfully decline to answer based

[00:17] upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment

[00:19] to the Constitution.

[00:20] >> tie are you wearing?

[00:23] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[00:26] decline to answer based upon my rights

[00:28] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[00:29] Constitution.

[00:30] >> What color is the carpet in front of

[00:31] you?

[00:35] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[00:37] decline to answer based upon my rights

[00:40] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[00:41] Constitution.

[00:42] >> Let's just get one thing straight. You

[00:43] don't have any rights under the Fifth

[00:44] Amendment because you've been pardoned,

[00:46] as you very well know. As the Supreme

[00:48] Court has been clear for a century and

[00:50] more, Brown versus Walker, 1896,

[00:53] when he has been pardoned, he may not

[00:55] stand upon his privilege.

[00:57] You know that. Your lawyers sitting

[00:59] behind you now are shifting nervously in

[01:00] their chairs. They know it. This isn't

[01:02] about the Constitution. This isn't about

[01:04] the law. This is about contempt.

[01:06] Contempt for this body and contempt for

[01:08] the American people.

[01:10] But I think I know why you're doing it.

[01:11] It's because you don't want to answer

[01:13] questions.

[01:14] It's because you did all kinds of

[01:17] terrible things. It's because during the

[01:18] pandemic, you got rich. Didn't you? You

[01:21] got rich while people were dying,

[01:24] hundreds of thousands of Americans, over

[01:26] a million in the end, and you were

[01:28] getting rich. And not only were you

[01:29] doing that, you were using federal

[01:31] employees with taxpayer money to apply

[01:35] for and solicit cash prizes for you

[01:38] personally. Cash prizes totaling over a

[01:42] million dollars. You did all of that

[01:44] during the pandemic, didn't you?

[01:47] That's a question.

[01:50] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[01:52] decline to answer based upon my rights

[01:54] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[01:55] Constitution.

[01:56] >> You remember Greg Folkerts?

[01:58] Who was that?

[02:00] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[02:02] decline to answer based upon my rights

[02:04] under the 5th Amendment to the

[02:05] Constitution.

[02:06] >> of staff is the answer. Do you remember

[02:08] Patricia Conrad? Who was that?

[02:12] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[02:13] decline to answer based upon my rights

[02:15] under the 5th Amendment to the

[02:17] Constitution.

[02:17] >> Uh-huh. She was your personal assistant.

[02:19] And what were these individuals doing in

[02:21] the depth of the pandemic in November of

[02:23] 2020

[02:25] when millions of Americans were

[02:26] suffering from COVID? What were they

[02:28] doing? I'll tell you what they're doing.

[02:30] Folkerts was on your behalf

[02:33] soliciting and gathering information for

[02:35] a cash award. Let's look at it. We've

[02:37] got his email right here, right over my

[02:39] shoulder.

[02:41] Folkerts says, "I'm working on this

[02:42] nomination for the Dan David Award for

[02:44] Fauci. We need to beef up the COVID

[02:46] part. Do you have language in the can

[02:48] that you can share that delineates how

[02:50] we responded in new ways to COVID?" He

[02:52] sends this to multiple federal

[02:54] employees. What was the Dan David Award?

[02:56] Do you remember, doc?

[02:59] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[03:01] decline to answer based upon my rights

[03:03] under the 5th Amendment to the

[03:05] Constitution.

[03:06] >> It was a $900,000

[03:07] cash award.

[03:09] $900,000

[03:12] cash award.

[03:14] And he got it

[03:16] because he used federal employees to get

[03:19] it. And this wasn't the only award, was

[03:21] it, Dr. Fauci? In fact, you applied for

[03:23] and received at least eight other

[03:26] federal cash prizes on federal time

[03:29] using federal employees and federal

[03:31] resources. Here they are over my

[03:33] shoulder.

[03:34] Besides the Dan David Award, you've got

[03:35] the Partnership for Public Service.

[03:37] You've got the Adelson Prize. You've got

[03:38] the Smithsonian Award. You've got the

[03:40] National Academy of Medicine's Award.

[03:41] You've got the CDC Foundation. In fact,

[03:43] you turned your staff into a full-time

[03:46] application machine. You actually wrote

[03:48] to people and said, "Do you think maybe

[03:50] I'd qualify?"

[03:52] And you got cash for all of this. And it

[03:55] wasn't just one or two employees, was

[03:56] it? In fact, you used eight separate

[03:59] federal employees on federal time using

[04:02] federal resources to solicit cash

[04:05] awards. Isn't that true?

[04:08] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[04:10] decline to answer based upon my rights

[04:12] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[04:13] Constitution.

[04:14] >> Here they are, right over my shoulder.

[04:15] Here's all of them. The people that you

[04:17] used, federal employees, so that you

[04:19] could go and get cash money.

[04:23] And the most hilarious part is that you

[04:25] weren't content to even dragoon them

[04:27] into applying for all of these cash

[04:29] awards. You then had them go out to the

[04:31] ethics agencies and ethics watchdogs and

[04:34] demand that you be able to get the

[04:36] money.

[04:38] That's right. We've got it in your

[04:39] emails.

[04:41] Your staff and employees on federal time

[04:44] using federal resources being paid with

[04:46] federal dollars are soliciting cash for

[04:49] you. And then they're turning around and

[04:51] saying to the agency, "We don't want

[04:52] just an answer. We want to get to yes

[04:55] because Fauci wants the money."

[04:58] He wants it.

[04:59] "We want to get to yes, and yes takes

[05:02] time." This is your chief of staff

[05:03] again, using federal email to pressure

[05:07] the agency's own ethics people so that

[05:10] you could get money, so that you could

[05:12] get rich.

[05:14] And it violated the law,

[05:16] didn't it, Dr. Fauci?

[05:18] Didn't it?

[05:20] It violated the law, didn't it?

[05:23] >> Is that a question?

[05:25] >> It is a question. You can answer. Go

[05:26] ahead.

[05:27] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[05:29] decline to answer based upon my rights

[05:31] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[05:32] Constitution.

[05:33] >> Federal law, as you very well know,

[05:35] prohibits the solicitation of cash

[05:38] awards or other personal benefits for

[05:40] federal employees. And it certainly

[05:43] prohibits using your own employees to do

[05:46] this.

[05:48] 5 CFR section 2635.205b.

[05:52] It says it right there in black and

[05:53] white. You cannot use federal resources,

[05:57] federal dollars, federal employees,

[05:59] federal offices, federal email, federal

[06:02] time to solicit cash awards, and you did

[06:05] all of it. And the worst part is

[06:07] thousands of people were dying while you

[06:08] were doing it. You were supposed to be

[06:10] the nation's doctor, and you're playing

[06:12] one on TV, but this is what you were

[06:14] doing with your time. Isn't that true?

[06:20] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[06:22] decline to answer based upon my rights

[06:24] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[06:25] Constitution.

[06:26] >> Yeah.

[06:27] Yeah, I can see why.

[06:29] I can certainly see why. You know what I

[06:31] can't quite figure out is that why you

[06:33] were so obsessed with it because you're

[06:34] already rich. I mean, and your your

[06:36] scheme worked here. I mean, your net

[06:38] worth now is north of 12 million

[06:41] dollars.

[06:43] You got over a million dollars in cash

[06:45] awards during COVID, during a 12-month,

[06:48] 24-month span during COVID. A million

[06:51] bucks you knocked down in cash money

[06:54] using federal resources. Now you're

[06:56] worth more than 12 million dollars.

[06:58] You've got a pension that in its first

[07:00] year paid out north of 400,000

[07:03] dollars a year. A million people dead,

[07:05] you're getting rich. A million people

[07:08] dead, you're using federal employees to

[07:10] get cash awards for you. A million

[07:12] people dead, and you're here taking the

[07:14] Fifth because you don't want to admit

[07:17] that what really happened in all that

[07:18] time was a multi-month, multi-year

[07:20] course of self-dealing.

[07:23] Isn't that true, Dr. Fauci?

[07:27] >> On the advice of counsel, I respectfully

[07:29] decline to answer based upon my rights

[07:31] under the Fifth Amendment to the

[07:32] Constitution.

[07:34] >> Yeah, well, silence is admission.

[07:36] And here's the real thing. At the end of

[07:38] the day, it wasn't just about the money,

[07:40] really, was it? It was really about a

[07:41] power trip.

[07:43] I mean, through all of this, you you

[07:44] want to be the most famous scientist in

[07:46] the world. You were so focused on

[07:48] getting every award and every drop of

[07:50] cash that you could, all because you

[07:52] wanted to be on TV. You wanted to be the

[07:55] sun god of science. You wanted to be the

[07:57] guy who was in charge of it all. You

[07:58] wanted to blambast Trump. You wanted to

[08:01] make sure that nobody else stole your

[08:02] spotlight. You wanted to be the guy.

[08:06] You had time to sit for InStyle

[08:08] magazine.

[08:10] Here's what you were doing with your

[08:11] time. You could sit for InStyle

[08:12] magazine,

[08:14] but you can't answer questions for the

[08:16] American people. You could sit for

[08:18] InStyle magazine, but you're here taking

[08:19] the fifth. You could sit for InStyle

[08:21] magazine and get a million bucks in cash

[08:24] awards, but now the cat's got your

[08:26] tongue.

[08:27] I bet he does.

[08:29] I tell you what, here's my conclusion

[08:31] from all of this.

[08:32] This was really all about you the whole

[08:34] time. Somewhere along the way, you lost

[08:36] your way.

[08:38] You may have been a good public servant

[08:39] at one time, I don't know. But what I

[08:41] can tell you from reading your emails

[08:42] now, from looking at what you did, how

[08:44] you used your employees, somewhere along

[08:46] the line it became all about you. You

[08:49] became a narcissist, and a megalomaniac,

[08:52] and a liar. And you've lied to American

[08:54] people, and you've lied to this body.

[08:57] And you've disgraced your profession by

[08:59] doing it. You called yourself the most

[09:00] famous scientist in the world.

[09:02] You've done more to harm science than

[09:04] anybody in my lifetime. And I hope

[09:06] you'll go home and write that in your

[09:07] diary.

[09:09] Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[09:11] >> Senator Fattman.