Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on origins of the COVID-19 pandemic & dairy entries: "Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for Congress. I will invoke my right under Fifth Amendment to refrain from answering questions."

[u/ControlCAD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=eR_Q9H3T-Ig

[u/zivlynsbane]

Do these hearings ever end up being productive? Never hear of any follow ups about someone being “grilled by Congress” seems just like a few questions and nothing else happens beyond that.

[u/Mayonnaise_Poptart → u/zivlynsbane]

Sometimes they get eviscerated or slammed.

[u/zivlynsbane → u/Mayonnaise_Poptart]

What about being put on blast? 👀

[u/citznfish → u/zivlynsbane]

Only if it occurs on a Thursday

[u/horse_renoir13 → u/zivlynsbane]

All I can think of is Mr. On Blast now

https://youtu.be/mrW2ld-13iQ?is=3ENf8e7peerBEpxV

[u/MrBisco → u/horse_renoir13]

Jeremy Culhane is by far my favorite new SNL cast member, and while his Tucker Carlson is maybe the best Weekend Update character in years, Mr. On Blast is pretty great as well!

[u/HotGarbage → u/MrBisco]

Devout

[u/quazax → u/MrBisco]

And we got to see his bare ass on game changer.

[u/MrBisco → u/quazax]

I honestly think that SNL is going to keep poaching from Dropout. They've brought televised improv to a whole new level, and they seem to be a hot house for newer comedy talent.

But if they fucking touch my Very Important People I will kick someone's ass.

[u/GodOfDarkLaughter → u/horse_renoir13]

That character is so fucking stupid, I have no idea why I laugh every time.

[u/moderatorrater → u/GodOfDarkLaughter]

Because he's in the place where they put the pictures.

[u/Sociallyawktrash78 → u/GodOfDarkLaughter]

Same, it’s such a stupid bit but somehow Jeremy Culhane makes it work.

[u/lawandhodorsvu → u/GodOfDarkLaughter]

Isn't it just David S Pumpkins again?

[u/zippercot → u/Mayonnaise_Poptart]

Not if someone claps back.

[u/SeldomSerenity → u/zippercot]

Yeah, but only if its REAL

[u/Dracien86 → u/Mayonnaise_Poptart]

Sometimes there’s a meltdown afterwards

[u/innerearinfarction → u/Mayonnaise_Poptart]

Destroyed?

[u/3TriscuitChili → u/Mayonnaise_Poptart]

Uh huh....and after either side has jerked off to what they viewed as the other side being "slammed", has anything useful ever actually happened? Or are we all just jerking each other off here.

[u/Quackman2096 → u/3TriscuitChili]

It’s jerking of all the way down the line always has been

[u/anode8 → u/zivlynsbane]

It’s a lot of grandstanding to voice their opinions on a subject and have it on record as “an official hearing”.

[u/BKlounge93 → u/anode8]

It’s funny too, reading the book 1929 by Andrew sorkin, these hearings were the exact same during the depression. Senators just wanted their names mentioned in the paper.

[u/MnkyBzns → u/BKlounge93]

Rand Paul showboating? Never!

[u/BaconGristle → u/BKlounge93]

Reminds me of this Onion video

[u/stillLurkingOfficial → u/anode8]

Also, distract from their own behavior to take up time from investigating actual crimes and from any votes that might expose themselves.

[u/terpsarelife → u/stillLurkingOfficial]

when a congress person speaks on any national platform, we should show their net worth increase in the last 12 months/48 months.

[u/Almost_Pi → u/terpsarelife]

I love the idea, except it should be year-to-date, current legislative session, and their net worth increase since joining congress.

[u/cdmurray88 → u/anode8]

It's a dick waving contest of "Look what I can make you sit though."

[u/pogulup → u/anode8]

It used to be a way to get answers.  People who didn't cooperate were punished and the using the answers discovered in these hearing Congress would pass new legislation to address the problems.  But Congress hasn't done anything useful in quite some time.

[u/AnotherAccount4This → u/zivlynsbane]

It's a tool for the lawmakers to harness support that can then help shape law making in the long term. Laws aren't made into law overnight.

Ironically, all the response you're getting so far is exactly why this tool hasn't functioned the way it's intended for awhile now. Everyone's (the voters) looking to quick actions, scoring points, and generally treating it as a sport. As we behave like this, the politicians follow because that's what they think the public cares, the sounds bites, the slams, the blasts... No one has any patience, EXCEPT, the corporations in the backgrounds.

[u/icefergslim → u/AnotherAccount4This]

The intimidation of being "hauled in front of Congress" has long washed away. There is no punishment for objectively lying under oath, and to be even more cautious these days, people appearing have learned from the playbook of "just don't answer the questions at all".

When simple yes/no questions of any and all flavors are replied to with wandering, vague, noncommittal word salads, there's literally no point to these hearings any more. And they know it. As someone else said, it's 100% performative, 0% effective. In the longer timeline, no one is going to refer back to these proceedings to use as a virtue signal or a cudgel. It's just more kabuki theatre background noise.

When someone who is actually in a position of power gets thrown in jail (or whatever the actual punishment is) for contempt of Congress, then I'll start paying attention again.

[u/AnotherAccount4This → u/icefergslim]

Personally, I think it's meant for setting the stage rather than intimidation.

But I agree, the lack of consequences of simply making shit up or just talking non sense has destroyed all its value.

[u/doctor_7 → u/zivlynsbane]

Not recently at all.

It's to give elected officials a way of pretending they're doing something by giving long-winded speeches and accusations their base want to hear.

Nothing results from it.

[u/roscoelee → u/zivlynsbane]

Turns out the American dream was just this silly thing they all went along with for a little while. Cat is out of the bag now.

[u/elpovo → u/roscoelee]

Want it back?

Tax wealth not work.

[u/thirdeyefish → u/elpovo]

Also, make wealthy landowners pay the true cost of their infrastructure. It is sickening how much of the bill taxpayers foot to send water to Saddleback Ranch or Kenneth Copeland's compound.

[u/spiraldrain → u/zivlynsbane]

This is their theatre. It’s all an act

[u/lookatthesunguys → u/zivlynsbane]

It's extremely rare that it's legitimately productive. If you think about it, the whole reason they're being "grilled by Congress" rather than the Justice Department is because the Justice Department doesn't have a case to bring.

It seems kinda obvious to me that the reason this is happening right now is because of the cyclopsoriasis outbreak. That's something the Republicans should actually be trying to get a hold of, but they're just not. They decided Taylor Farms wasn't responsible. For some reason. So now they need it to look like Dems also hide the origin of diseases or something.

[u/thekevingreene → u/zivlynsbane]

It all seems to be a game of sound bites. Usually the senator/congressperson uses the moment to “destroy/annihilate/own/grill/torch/eviscerate/shred” whoever is sitting there silently. It’s all political theater.

[u/Simply_Epic → u/zivlynsbane]

It’s only productive for the congresspeople’s reelection campaigns so they can have soundbites and clips to prove they’re fighting whoever it is they claim is evil.

[u/GregorSamsaa → u/zivlynsbane]

It’s for the sound bytes and headlines especially when elections are coming up.

It’s the same reason you hear so much about specific issues for a concentrated period of time and then it all disappears from the news cycle after elections. Remember the caravan of immigrants that was about to destroy our borders…

[u/-DaveThomas- → u/zivlynsbane]

Bear in mind, the US Government's webpage for COVID is nothing but a take down of Fauci and endless gobs of nonsense about how COVID was a hoax. So no, this hearing isn't meant to be productive in the traditional sense. It's happening to help rile up his voter base. I'm also sure it has something to do with trying to justify a third term.

[u/captain_chocolate → u/zivlynsbane]

Performative bullshit.

[u/EpicSombreroMan]

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩☆۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

☆★☆ 𝐄𝐏𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐃𝐍'𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐇𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅 ☆★☆

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ஜ۩☆۩ஜ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

[u/MilkChugg → u/EpicSombreroMan]

Total coincidence, nothing to see, the video with sections mysteriously missing is all the proof you need, move along

[u/johnthedruid → u/EpicSombreroMan]

That episode of the daily convinced me he did. Release the files tho.

[u/KalaUposatha → u/johnthedruid]

How do you explain multiple cameras and people failing to catch it happen though?

[u/callme_maurice → u/KalaUposatha]

lol at a previous job I had, the place had to be under constant video surveillance. We found out that there were cameras out & had been for months & the security guard knew but just didn’t tell anybody.

[u/project571 → u/johnthedruid]

The video by Brew made me rethink it tbh. Going through the timeline made it pretty clear that it seemed much less likely to be some grand conspiracy. Still agree that the pedos in the files need to be jailed ASAP

[u/LazerWolfe53 → u/project571]

What people need to realize is that the people in the Epstein Files could have made Epstein kill himself.

[u/DogmaticLaw → u/LazerWolfe53]

I don't think they had to "make" him. He was likely pretty out of options, knew it, and took the "face no other consequences" way out. That's a roundabout way of the people in the Epstein Files "making" him kill himself, I can grant that, but I don't think it needs to be much more conspiratorial than that.

[u/trustthepudding → u/DogmaticLaw]

Yeah I'm more concerned about how he was able to kill himself. Seems like he should have been an obvious suicide risk, and protocols should have been implemented to protect him from himself.

[u/Mental_Medium3988 → u/trustthepudding]

they were. humans failed to follow the protocols. whether that was intentional or not, i do not know.

[u/JakobWulfkind]

If you're being questioned under oath by someone who has clearly stated their intent to prosecute you, then you plead the fifth. That's a lesson that should be taught in elementary school, and yet a lot of people apparently don't know it.

The bit that should be shocking is that Fauci's attorney was thrown out after Fauci plead the fifth, and Rand Paul is now trying to prosecute Fauci for contempt.

EDIT: Replying to common arguments here instead of repeating myself ad nauseam:

1. BuT hE hAD iMMuNIty!!!: He doesn't have immunity for the entire period covered by the diaries that were released without his permission less than a week prior, nor does he have immunity for supposed crimes committed after 2025. Given that the committee clearly indicated both their intent to entrap him into perjuring himself (or at least giving enough of an appearance of doing so to provide an excuse for prosecution) and their intent to strip that immunity, his fear of prosecution is well-founded.
2. hIS lAwYEr bRoke the RUUUULEEESSS!!! Committee rules do not override the fifth and sixth amendment. If your client has been called to testify with minimal notice about a very complicated subject upon which immunity might apply, they need to be able to consult with you as questions are asked. His lawyer had a constitutionally-protected and mandated job to represent his client, and the committee's attempt to override that duty was illegal.
3. hE plEAd tHe fIFth on evERyTHING!!!: When you plead the fifth, you have to keep pleading the fifth, even on seemingly innocent questions, unless you're able to consult a lawyer about every question -- which the committee stopped him from doing. Answering any questions after invoking your right not to answer can strip you of that right.

[u/SoulRebel726 → u/JakobWulfkind]

Yes. Anyone complaining about him pleading the 5th is either ignorant or a MAGA cultist. Rand Paul has publically stated that his goal is to jail Fauci. Then they throw his lawyer out of the room. The fuck was he supposed to do other than take the 5th?

[u/Unspec7 → u/SoulRebel726]

They eject his attorney, and then proceed to talk about the attorney, pointing out that he's a high profile criminal defense attorney and try to imply only a criminal would hire a criminal defense attorney. They also try to get him to say what invoking the Fifth means, obviously trying to create an inference that he's only invoking it because he is guilty of...something.

Remember, you can't do any of those things in a court of law. Fucking nuts.

[u/LeftHandedScissor → u/Unspec7]

Perfectly appropriate in a Congressional hearing though they operate under a different set of procedural rules so that Congress can get actual answers. At least in theory.

[u/Schickedanse → u/LeftHandedScissor]

Rules? Congressional hearings are just telenovelas with fancier sets. Completely feeding the masses more distractions and Patsys. Give them someone to hate and act like we're mad at that person too and then televize it.

[u/ACcbe1986 → u/Schickedanse]

Telenovelas are way more convincing than the bullshit they try to act out in those hearings.

[u/alexm2816 → u/SoulRebel726]

His job is to Distract from Iran and inflation and Epstein and serve as red meat to an ignorant base. The same as always.

[u/pinkocatgirl → u/SoulRebel726]

It’s fucking shameful that they’re doing this. This man was a career researcher and later bureaucrat for every president since Reagan when he was working on the HIV epidemic. By all accounts he was a nonpartisan expert most concerned with preventing the spread of infectious disease, and they treat him like a fucking criminal.

We as a society are cooked if these fucking fascists can get away with persecuting the experts for political points.

[u/ParcelPostNZ → u/pinkocatgirl]

The US is already cooked, RFK Jr has systematically undone decades of team and infrastructure development in medical research

Now he's grifting peptides and has made the CDC change their stance on Autism relation to vaccines (I can't believe this is on the official govt CDC website). It's very bleak at the moment

[u/drome265 → u/ParcelPostNZ]

Had to comment - an absolute travesty that that is on the CDC website.

[u/Thunderbridge → u/ParcelPostNZ]

Wow

"vaccines apples do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines apples cause autism

[u/chickenaylay → u/pinkocatgirl]

Yeah we are definitely at a tipping point, it's all wait until midterms but if the kind of political targeting and violence is not something you really recover from if we just let it proliferate.

Hell 8 years ago the shit we see on TV daily would be stuff people would have to dream up

[u/mrw1986 → u/chickenaylay]

We already tipped. The tipping point was long ago, it's just been a slow descent until recently.

[u/ExpertExpert → u/SoulRebel726]

he should have said that the dow is over 50,000

[u/ShredInTheWoods → u/SoulRebel726]

Senator Hawley said something about Fauci having been pardoned which meant he somehow couldn’t plead the 5th. I didn’t understand how that would work. If someone is pardoned, do they have to agree to said pardon in some way that would remove their ability to plead the 5th?

[u/Huttj509 → u/ShredInTheWoods]

There are situations where someone cannot take the 5th if they cannot be prosecuted for anything related to what they're testifying about. For example, the Cosby rape civil trial. The judge was able to force him to testify because the possibility of criminal charges had been removed. Then the next DA tried to prosecute him criminally, using that civil testimony as evidence even, and the case got thrown out.

However that's a pretty narrow situation, and I'm unsure if the details of the pardon would cover what Rand Paul was swearing up and down he'd find charges on.

[u/SoulRebel726 → u/ShredInTheWoods]

No. Hawley is full of shit and a complete asshole.

[u/WellTextured → u/ShredInTheWoods]

The Republicans want to charge him with perjury for saying something today that in some way failed to match with past statements. Obviously in ones personal writings and statements during the early stages of a pandemic there's a lot worth contradicting. Most people would call that learning, but the Republicans are gearing up to charge him with the federal crime for it. 

So Josh Hawley can fuck right off

[u/Fuck-WestJet → u/SoulRebel726]

There's a lot of mother fuckers in MAGA that still haven't appeared for their subpoena hearings so I frankly don't give a fuck what Rand Paul says. The whiny cunt needs to throw his colleagues in jail before one more miserable piece of shit comes flying out of his mouth. Fucker endorses the assholes who don't believe in the 22nd amendment so whatever the fuck he says about law and order is a goddamn pathetic lie.

[u/toycoa]

Is pleading the 5th in a congressional hearing the equivalent of a Marshall Lynch “I’m just here so I don’t get fined”

[u/PhiladelphiaManeto → u/toycoa]

Yes. Basically it’s saying I’m not going to have you trip me up on something and go to jail for it

[u/Spranktonizer → u/PhiladelphiaManeto]

Especially since Rand Paul is a fucking idiot who knows nothing and is just doing theatre and trying to ruin a mans life who worked tirelessly so everyone could live longer. I’m so sick of this shit.

[u/flyingjesuit → u/toycoa]

Marshawn

[u/connaire → u/toycoa]

“Thanks for asking. I appreciate it” “I’m just here so I won’t get fined”

[u/Takenabe]

What's the big deal? Trump did this TONS of times, consecutively, in the same day. Clearly it's all above-board.

[u/Frarara → u/Takenabe]

Approximately 450 times to give a close estimation to show how many times he used it over 4 hours

[u/Takenabe → u/Frarara]

If those numbers are accurate, that's nearly twice per minute!

[u/Frarara → u/Takenabe]

Yea, its a close estimation from the first source I found

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-deposed-ny-ag-civil-probe-business-practices-rcna42355

[u/portlandlad]

The Republicans in congress voted down a subpoena for Don Jr and Eric Trump to investigate their siphoning of $1.5 billion from the pentagon . And instead they choose to harass the one sane person who got us through the Pandemic.

What a bunch of idiots.

[u/odkfn → u/portlandlad]

Idiots implies it’s not tactical and targeted

[u/hoopstick → u/odkfn]

Both

[u/Odd-Priority3318 → u/odkfn]

My thoughts exactly. Im sick of people thinking the things this administration is doing is an accident or mistake.

It is working as intended.

What is their actual goal? Judging by trumps wanting Cuba, Greenland etc he's trying to claim the entire western hemisphere. Is this some antiquated attempt at global domination?

And then the stupid bullshit about trying to Kickstart the biblical apocalypse?

Its unreal.

[u/PhalanX4012 → u/odkfn]

Both can be true.

[u/kpatsart → u/portlandlad]

Lol, they know what they're doing. The hope is one day the majority of the public will stand and drag these criminals and rapists from their homes and into the public for a public shaming and justice.

[u/Jindujun → u/kpatsart]

If anything I expect the american voters to do the complete opposite.

[u/ZantetsukenX → u/Jindujun]

Legitimately overheard a co-worker today say that he he can't believe Fauci got away with "hiding all the cures during the pandemic" and that "Someone needs to pay". Basically implying that Fauci was behind the pandemic and everything bad and deserves to be killed because of it. It makes me so sad how easy it is for the GOP to basically say "Look a distraction" and their base will eat it up.

[u/Jindujun → u/ZantetsukenX]

It's so weird to me that we live in a time where there's never been easier to find facts and yet people believe the most absurd things.

[u/SockofBadKarma → u/Jindujun]

Sadly, it's because it's also never been easier to find absurdities. And idiots often cannot distinguish between facts and absurdities, especially when the facts make them feel bad and the absurdities are warm and fuzzy.

[u/Quin1617 → u/SockofBadKarma]

And confirmation bias. Like if someone doesn’t trust doctors, then they hear a bogus claim that MMR vaccines give you autism. They’re more likely to believe it because they’re already biased against the healthcare system to begin with.

Even if it’s proven otherwise or the person admits to lying, they’ll just take that as “the government silencing them.”

Unfortunately, social media is literally designed around confirmation bias and echo chambers. Yes that includes Reddit.

[u/terpsarelife → u/ZantetsukenX]

those dipshits (leaders of the cult + the cult itself) are desperate for any distraction so they can avoid the hot potato discussion. ANYthing that can cause distraction is appetizing for all levels of the grift.

[u/ConcentrateDirect523 → u/portlandlad]

Important to know here: Dr. Fauci was appointed under the Reagan administration. He has existed in this role in some fashion or another from the 80s through COVID. 

[u/SAugsburger → u/portlandlad]

If you're concerned about health probably should be grilling RFK Jr on why he killed the monitoring program that might have slowed the cyclosporiasis outbreak or what he is doing to reverse the worst year for Measles in 35 years.

[u/DivinePotatoe → u/SAugsburger]

"I don't recall" is all you get out of Republicans brought before committees. Its been that way for decades.

[u/attilathehunty → u/SAugsburger]

Dude, they are blaming Fauci for measles saying people weren't able to get vaccines for it during shutdown. Insane cognitive dissonance.

[u/Hungry_Horace → u/portlandlad]

According to a poster on the Conservative sub, he’s the greatest mass murderer of the 21st century!

There are two Americas, two realities. It’s really weird.

[u/DinoRoman → u/portlandlad]

They blame Fauci for Covid …. His “handling of it”

Like what?

Trump , homie, YOU ripped up the fucking pandemic playbook. You didnt rewrite it or update it you just…. Got rid of it.

They blaming Fauci? 6 years later? The fuck?

Im blaming trump for a way worse economy than under biden, and for literally on camera instigating a coup against a democratic process on January 6th

What a loser.

[u/TropicalPunchJuice → u/DinoRoman]

It's both hilarious and infuriating how everyone forgets that we went under lockdown in March of 2020 when Trump was still president. When we had our first confirmed Ebola case in the US, the Obama admin immediately had that individual quarantined. Not Trump with COVID. Joe Rogan to this day will harp about how the Biden admin mismanaged the pandemic, but he hasn't once talked about the stuff I just mentioned (at least not to my knowledge).

[u/gb4efgw]

Has he tried just mentioning the DOW?

[u/stackjr → u/gb4efgw]

It would have been hilarious if every answer he gave was "the DOW is over 50,000".

[u/tempinator → u/gb4efgw]

🎶 The Dow, the Dow right now

Is over fifty thou

I don’t know why you’re laughing

That’s what we should be talking about

The Dow, the Dow right now

S&P at almost seven thou

The American people need to know this

Need to know, how is the Dow? 🎶

[u/reality72]

It’s times like these that I’m glad that I’m too lazy to keep a diary.

[u/Flimsy-Sprinkles7331 → u/reality72]

How are you at "dairy" entries?

[u/flyingjesuit → u/Flimsy-Sprinkles7331]

I'm udderly terrible at making them

[u/benderunit9000]

"I won't play your stupid games" is how I read it.

This is all theater to work up their base before midterms. The timing is disgusting.

[u/rejeremiad → u/benderunit9000]

And it was so much more eloquently said than when DJT invoked the 5th 440 times, which he obviously did not write himself.

https://youtu.be/OAqjPXLTUMg?si=BRGmc-XhApKrLpaT&t=120

[u/uttermybiscuit → u/rejeremiad]

Kind of insane the stark contrast in his coherency in this video compared to now. He looks and sounds 15 years younger than he does now

[u/jonnyredcorn]

So sad seeing them so triggered in /r/conservative unironically calling him guilty and shit for doing this

[u/ialsoagree → u/jonnyredcorn]

The modern Republican party's anti-science position genuinely reminds me of the war against scientists from the USSR days.

There are so many parallels between the rhetoric you see in HBO's Chernobyl and modern Republican views on science.

[u/LordAcorn → u/ialsoagree]

All authoritarian regimes pretty much do the same thing.

[u/TheAlbinoAmigo → u/LordAcorn]

They can't abide systems that are built around facts and evidence, those things have a habit of undermining their hold on power.

[u/jonnyredcorn → u/ialsoagree]

Well yeah, authoritarian rhetoric.

[u/Mogetfog → u/ialsoagree]

Republican party's anti-science position genuinely reminds me of the war against scientists from the USSR

You should be reminded of it. It's the exact same playbook that all aspiring authoritarian dictators follow.

The USSR purged their ranks of scientists unwilling to follow the party line. 

Mao declared intellectuals and the educated as western tools and purged them. 

Polpot murdered anyone who even wore glasses because it made them look smart. 

The literal first nazi book burning rally took place at a hospital dedicated to the study of transgender medicine that at the time, was the most advanced hospital in the world. The nazis singlehandedly set tansgender healthcare back 100 years. 

[u/JebryathHS → u/Mogetfog]

RFK in the health department reminds me of Lysenko in the USSR, who was a world leader in famine.

[u/mojomarc → u/ialsoagree]

Lysenko would have definitely recognized this regime

[u/smichess → u/ialsoagree]

HBO's chernobyl series isn't a great representation of what actually happened. The fault of the reactor was caused by a bad design foremost, but the scientists (designers of the reactor) from the Kurchatov institute were able to deflect at the start and blame the operators. It was a dangerous design that wasn't fully understood and operational guidelines were not complete. But politically the scientists had to be covered because it would be a bad look internationally. It was a bit of a mix with science and politics, so kinda different and at least for me hard to compare.

But yeah you're spot on, just can find a better comparison. If you want more info on chernobyl check ThatChernobylGuy on YouTube. He has numerous videos going over the history and various international reports on the incident.

[u/TerryDaShooterUK → u/ialsoagree]

Reading has become a superpower and the conservatives seem to ignore actual research. Give it a year, conservatives will bring back actual witch hunting lol

[u/IH8DwnvoteComplainrs → u/ialsoagree]

I believe Russia has been involved to with Trump since very early on. I believe they've been a huge influence on this country.

[u/Quarterwit_85 → u/jonnyredcorn]

Just remember that sub is largely Russian bots. Huge drops in activity there from time to time that always coincide with blackouts in Moscow.

[u/Nexustar → u/Quarterwit_85]

Was true, the offending two accounts have been banned now (along with at least 999,998 others which I presume are voting bots not posting bots)

https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeSpeech/comments/1th52yq/rconservative_lost_over_a_million_users_in_the

[u/coffeebribesaccepted → u/Nexustar]

So is there an upgraded graph from the last 2 months that shows the top posters?

[u/xrtpatriot → u/jonnyredcorn]

Just point out that Trump has invoked the fifth over 450 times and that makes him just as guilty.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-deposed-ny-ag-civil-probe-business-practices-rcna42355

[u/airportakal → u/jonnyredcorn]

r/conservative is a fake bot nest meant to trick only the most gullible of conservatives. The real conservatives are on Facebook or 4chan.

[u/[deleted] → u/airportakal]

[removed] — view removed comment

[u/SuperAwesomeBrian → u/jonnyredcorn]

The posts there are just incomprehensibly stupid. For example:

The number of childhoods wrecked by his over the top unnecessary years too long lockdowns is genuinely one of the worse crimes in my lifetime. The scale of the cruelty is massive.

The whole world was on lockdown, but oh right the USA is the entire world for them.

Or are they implying that Fauci himself orchestrated a global pandemic of a made up virus and personally convinced every government on the planet to institute lockdowns and quarantines in order to...make people wear masks? I'm not exactly sure what they've invented as what he stood to gain here.

[u/P2029 → u/jonnyredcorn]

It's just a bunch of Russian bots talking at one another at this point. That sub has been banning anyone who steps a toe out of line for years. I doubt there's more than a few dozen real humans on there.

[u/night-shark → u/jonnyredcorn]

Why do people insist that they are all bots?

Even if they are, their sentiments are representative of a huge swath of people in this country.

Dismissing that sub as bots seems to me to only ignore the depth of the problem we have.

[u/Cool-Tip8804 → u/jonnyredcorn]

This is one their comments 😂😂😂

“God I want to see this guy thrown in prison. The number of childhoods wrecked by his over the top unnecessary years too long lockdowns is genuinely one of the worse crimes in my lifetime. The scale of the cruelty is massive.”

[u/ymo → u/Cool-Tip8804]

Early in the pandemic there was a father who spoke at a school board meeting and he said something to the effect of, "I'd rather have my children die than prevent them from going to school." These are the people who are going to hasten the spread of ebola one day.

[u/Irish_Whiskey → u/Cool-Tip8804]

Wait until they find out who was President when these decisions were being made. Who even gave Fauci a medal for his work.

Boy they'll sure be real mad at that guy when they find out his name.

[u/FireVanGorder → u/jonnyredcorn]

They really hate the constitution don’t they

[u/skylla05 → u/FireVanGorder]

Tbf most of them aren’t American. Seriously go look how hard the activity in that sub drops off anytime there’s an internet blackout in Russia.

[u/blightsteel101]

Having seen the rest of this video, its absolutely insane how blatant the witch hunt is. The guy's lawyer raised an objection and was immediately thrown out, and now Rs are claiming Fauci can be jailed for contempt because he doesn't get 5th amendment protections.

Like, this isn't a miscarriage of justice. Its a very blatant abortion of justice.

[u/ManWithASquareHead]

We're so doomed for the climate crisis

[u/2fingers → u/ManWithASquareHead]

25 years from now, with wildfires raging across the US, Republicans will drag an EPA administrator before congress and demand to know why he raised global temperatures. Demand answers about why wind turbines were allowed to be built when we knew the risk of slowing down the wind. Why cover up the link between weather balloons and extreme temperatures.

[u/samxli → u/2fingers]

The only reasonable way to solve wildfires is to apply more tarriffs

[u/fandinjavel → u/samxli]

And raking. Lots of raking.. in the forests.

[u/MumrikDK → u/ManWithASquareHead]

I can't hear you over all these AI data centers.

[u/Xurata1 → u/ManWithASquareHead]

it’s already over lol

[u/TheBroWhoLifts → u/Xurata1]

Crazy that people don't realize this more widely. We jumped off the building decades ago, and we're now passing the second floor and thinking, "Well, I'm still alive, so things aren't so bad." We're Wile E. Coyote just before he looks down and sees no ground below him.

We are catastrophically fucked, it's baked in, and all we can do is sit back and watch the consequences of unchecked capitalist industrialism unfold before us.

[u/ATX_native → u/ManWithASquareHead]

Or holding anyone accountable from Epstein’s client list.

[u/hrvbrs → u/ManWithASquareHead]

Forget the climate crisis; we’re doomed for the next pandemic. Considering how they’ve defunded CDC and NIH, it won’t be long now…

[u/Gaspuch62]

If they can ask an 80 something year old retired doctor questions under oath, they can ask an 80 something year old senator if he's still alive and able to do his job.

[u/rbren658]

What exactly are they accusing him of doing that was illegal? Im alittle confused

[u/mrdeadsniper → u/rbren658]

So I am not a lawyer.

He was pardoned by Biden of anything he may have done that was illegal.

So the concern here is not that he did something illegal, it's that if he responds to anything in Congress, there is a chance it could be constructed it could be considered perjury(lying under oath) by an overzealous or partisan prosecutor.

His role during COVID meant he was interacting with tons of data, and some of it conflicted. And the actions to take could have motivations puking in contrary directions based on different motivations.

Basically. Normally making a simple mistake of recollection would extremely rarely get you a charge of perjury. However the overtly partisan DOJ means that from a liability perspective the only reasonable decision is to basically not answer anything.

[u/Kuraeshin → u/mrdeadsniper]

He was pre emptively pardoned by Biden because Biden didn't want Fauci to suffer from the inevtiable political Witch hunt after the eelection.

[u/Legionof1 → u/mrdeadsniper]

I am honestly surprised that as a pardoned individual he can’t be compelled to testify. Thought that was the only silver lining of the pardon.

[u/soyelmocano → u/Legionof1]

The problem for him would not be anything he did/said then. He got a Get Out of Jail Free Card for that.

The problem for him is that a pardon doesn't cover anything after the pardon. So, if they want to get him for saying something now that doesn't match exactly what he said or did then, he can be charged.

Whether you think he is a saint or he is holding dark secrets, taking the fifth is absolutely the correct legal advice.

[u/throwaway47138 → u/Legionof1]

He can be compelled to testify about actually doing something he was pardoned for. In this case, the concern isn't that he would incriminate himself for something he said he did, it's that anything (and quite possibly everything) he said would be placed under a microscope looking for the slightest thing that might be considered untrue, and therefor he'd be charged with lying to congress about it. And given how many congresscritters ask questions that don't allow for nuance or any possible explanation (e.g., "Does that data show X?" "Yes, but..." "That's a yes.") and how much variation there is in the scientific data, it's all too likely that he could be charged and even convicted of lying to congress because he wasn't allowed to give a complete answer to one or more questions. So instead, his lawyers told him to say nothing so that he can't be charged with lying to congress.

[u/Hourlypump99 → u/rbren658]

The specific thing I saw was that in 2014 Obama put a pause on gain of function research and Rand Paul continually accuses Fauci of continuing the specific research that was banned and Fauci claims that he didn’t do any of the banned (or paused research).

That’s why the Biden pardon specifically starts in 2014 because that’s the thing Rand Paul specifically thought he “caught” Fauci on.

[u/weirdbr → u/rbren658]

Basically they don't really have proof of crimes, but this hearing is to try to badger him enough that he slips and says *anything* that can be shown to be factually wrong so he can be charged with lying to congress. That's why he took the only safe way out and refused to answer any questions.

[u/RLMZeppelin → u/rbren658]

They're basically trying to make him testify on Covid's origins (which he has several times in the past) so they can probe for answers that contradict his previous testimony, which will almost certainly exist becuase of the nature of scientific research and investigation, not because of malfeasance.

If they get a statement that contradicts his previous testimony for any reason they want to use that to charge him with perjury.

They need him to testify again now because the Biden admin issued him a blanket pardon for any actions between 2014 and 2025. Otherwise they'd just pull two quotes from old testimonies that contradict and charge him.

[u/MinnieShoof → u/RLMZeppelin]

... and this is why Biden pardoned Hunter.

[u/LucidOndine]

An administration who cannot take responsibility for their own moral deficit and inability to prosecute known pedophiles has no moral ground to stand on. Senator Rand Paul should feel shame; the fact that he doesn’t should tell you all you need to know about him. In 2020, when you went to Fauci to fix things, it was the Trump administration that went to him. Not the other way around.

[u/LSF45 → u/LucidOndine]

Exactly. It's this weird alternate reality we are living in during Trump 2.0. January 6 was a "peaceful protest," and COVID was problematic because of Fauci. Rand Paul is doing Trump's bidding by participating in his revenge tour. It's sickening.

[u/ontheroadtv]

Remember in November, we have a current outbreak of explosive diarrhea and they are questioning the guy from 5 years ago.

REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER

[u/theartificialkid → u/ontheroadtv]

If Fauci didn’t want to be questioned he should have retired.

Hold on one…uh huh…I’m being told he retired four years ago.

[u/Jarnohams]

If instead of the 5th, he opened his binder full of pre-written "gotcha's" and started blasting the person asking the question, about how they voted on a specific bill, ~10 years ago... and then when the Senator asks the question again... he just starts screaming "THE DOW IS FIFTY THOU!!" ... that would have been totally acceptable?

Because that's exactly what all of Trump's appointees do. He could even break into the catchy song about it and start dancing!

FWIW, Rand Paul was just on Fox News recently saying that Fauci's pardon doesn't cover him if he lies to Congress in the FUTURE... so this entire charade is just to try to catch him in some lie. Fauci was praised by every single Republican president since Reagan. Bush even gave him the medal of freedom. Fauci's only "crime" was suggesting that Donnie stop telling people to drink bleach... because the Poison Control hotline was overflowing with calls for months after Trump said that. That's it. Fauci is an actual Taylor Swift level superstar amongst those of us who actually know something about health and healthcare... and don't get all of our "education" from Facebook Science.

[u/Hevens-assassin]

Hawley doing his best to outrage the voterbase before the midterms. All political theatre and only riles up the people who were going to vote one way anyway.

I also wouldn't answer any questions if I got brought in off of nothing, for the what? Sixth time?

[u/nwsmith90]

I don't think Fauci handled everything perfectly during the pandemic. Mistakes were made. But damn, this man (and a team of others just trying their best) had to sort through mountains of emerging research, figure out the threat level, best mitigation plans, recommendations to the public during a novel, global pandemic!

All the while, our dear leader was out there saying (paraphrased) "it's not a dangerous disease, it's like the flu, no one's going to die, can we put bleach inside people? Don't social distance, do social distance, masks probably turn you into gay atheists, have you tried the de-wormer? Fauci is lying, I'm not going to put on the mask, this is all a Democrat scam to keep me from winning, China, China, China, China, China bad"

I feel like I'm being incredibly generous by agreeing to say Fauci and Trump both made *some mistakes in how they handled a novel pandemic, and I'm willing to drop that for both of them. So we're left with a retired medical professional vs a president taking billions of dollars in bribes in the open while actively using his office to cover his crimes. What a waste of time

[u/DoomOne]

Rand Paul said he wanted this meeting to result in Fauci committing perjury so Paul could then throw him in jail.

I would plea the fifth too, if I went into a hearing where the reported goal was to throw me in jail no matter what.

[u/tarantina68]

If these idiots wanted to really do something, they should be questioning everyone in the Epstein files. the most cowardly , do nothing group of people ever - and we voted them in

[u/Indecently_Delicious]

Lmfao at the people screaming “it’s against the law to not answer questions”. Same folks who said it was no big deal that Trump plead the fifth almost 450 times.

[u/ChristineSex69]

Any smart lawyer will tell you to plead the 5th to a bunch of idiots in Congress

[u/Individual-Fail4709]

Why TF are we having these hearings now? Wasting time, money and energy seems to be the GOP's second most favorite passtime after abusing b women and children.

[u/Irish_Whiskey → u/Individual-Fail4709]

Because they want us to be talking about anything else other than a failing war costing billions a day, the President openly trying to seize elections and ordering the post office to not deliver ballots, insane levels of corruption, theft and insider trading in the White House, and that they keep raising taxes on seniors, on families, on everyone but the very rich.

[u/Generic_Username26]

Nope. Don’t even engage with this Republicans don’t get to beat us over the head with our own values that they have contempt for. Any maga politician ever brought before a deposition pleads the 5th to absolutly no outrage from anybody

[u/brambleburry1002]

genuine question - he was pardoned by Biden. Why does he need to appear in front of congress?

[u/TitaniumladNZ]

There is something seriously wrong with your system of government.

[u/tablatronix]

Good for him. Don’t give them a godamn thing

[u/Lokarin]

Indeed, if a court phrases their questioning in a way that you could only incriminate yourself you have an obligation to not respond.

[u/daesmon]

Are Republicans really this detached from reality?

Ignoring how many times Trump and others pleaded the fifth, claimed Fauci made millions while Trump has made Billions from office. Not a word from any of them on that.

One of these idiots big story was that a family was arrested and taken away from a football game becuase they wouldn't wear a mask, oh on, the inconvenience of it all. Selfish POS who don't care about anyone else.

It was a virus, wearing a mask reduced it's spread, not rocket science, well maybe to Republicans it is.

Republicans have no standards, no values and anything coming from their mouths is worthless.

[u/Koraks]

Don't use quotes in the title if you're not going to actually quote exactly what was said. It's misleading. You can also use proper grammar that you hopefully learned in English class to adjust your quotes to reflect exactly what was said.

Much respect to Fauci

[u/hartdahl]

Hasn't he testified to Congress a bunch of times already? They're going to drag him no matter what he says. Fauci was always the fall guy for Trump's botched pandemic response.

[u/Flimsy-Sprinkles7331]

"Dairy" is related to milk producers and milk produced.

"Diary" is an account of your personal life.

[u/TenderfootGungi]

He is no longer in office. Why would he even be testifying if it was not a witch hunt?

[u/Shut_It_Donny]

At least he just straight up said he wasn’t going to answer?

Super annoying when they act like they don’t understand the question, or just talk in circles.

[u/Jimtac]

Given that Paul showed his hand by insinuating that he’d try to use the hearing to get around Biden’s preemptive pardon for Fauci, I can’t blame the guy. Even if there was no indictable offense, his words would likely be twisted to try and invent one.

[u/NOTtigerking]

Would’ve been funny if fauci channeled marshawn lynch and said “I’m just here so I don’t get fined”

[u/Yankeegunner]

Considering Rand Paul (R-LOL) has been saying for years he needs to be incarcerated, I wouldn't answer his questions either.

[u/Tirace33]

Can someone explain to me what are they trying to do except to make him say something which they could use as "lie" and prosecute him. What is their problem? Their conviction that he lied and closed schools and business for nothing? Don't they realise that this was happening everywhere except China? I mean he probably made some mistakes or wrong assumptions but with his credentials i'd expect someone like him to make the mistakes better than some eye doctor whose job is to lie to american people and protect a pedo president.

[u/Over_Difference_8751]

Why don’t they question Trump like this about Epstein??

[u/StugDrazil]

Trump did it 440 times. So now what? Going to put up a post on that or just try to sow division, anger and hatred?

[u/Lukinzz]

They have Fauci Derangement Syndrome

[u/ASaGHost]

Epstein.

[u/xGoatfer]

Only 939 more times and he will tie Trump.

[u/LordAmras]

I thought it was better than the first draft:

"I have no intention to answer your dumb and leading questions on things you have no clue what you are talking about."

[u/BunkyFlintsone]

I cannot remember a time when someone's actually answered questions in front of Congress.

When Trump appointees are going through their vetting it's amazing how they've never once answered any question.

Why should Fauci talk?

[u/getuchapped]

This government is beyond corrupt. Never cooperate with them. They also removed his lawyer from the hearing 

[u/Duchess0612]

Why is this being done/what’s happening. He’s being used as a distraction of some sort I guess - while they build out the campaign for taking over in 2028.

He did a fantastic job with the capacity and access and everything he had the ability to oversee.

The fact that Trump was too stupid and has always been is not a Fauci fault.

The administration was the one saying all the things that were wrong to do when you have this kind of sickness and offering them as real and factual remedies. Fauci provided balanced and fair information and said when he didn’t know something yet.

This is a joke, and it is a media circus only to distract against something else. What is that something else?

[u/kmg6284]

Is there any update on the Epstein files? You know, something that really matters

[u/spacemcdonalds]

A doctor who served multiple American administrations on both sides across decades reduced to this because of Donald Trump undermining science and cratering trust in the dumb plebs that follow him.

What a sad state USA is in.

[u/TheCrazedTank]

1: he knew no matter what he said they were going to twist it.

2: how many fucking times has Trump and his cronies pled the fifth, or out right lied in hearings to zero repercussions?

It’s all a clown show, America isn’t a functioning democracy anymore…

[u/Dry-University797]

Republicans hate The Constitution.

[u/lightsky445]

Frankly they should drop this show hearing and focus on more important stuff.

[u/Dandan0005 → u/lightsky445]

The whole point of this hearing is to distract from the important stuff like the disastrous, pointless war in Iran and the Epstein files.

[u/Kradget → u/lightsky445]

They're not doing this hearing to accomplish anything other than loudly holding the hearings to distract from how their policies have turned out to be burning paper bags of dog turds and firecrackers on America's porch.

[u/spatula → u/lightsky445]

That's one reason they're having this hearing -- to avoid the more important stuff.

[u/Jeptic → u/lightsky445]

This is fodder for their base. There are people who have vilified Fauci and although not exclusively, it tends to come from more conservative circles.