{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-exposes-faucis-self-dealings-fauci-pleads-the-fifth/", "Hawley Exposes Fauci\u2019s Self-Dealings, Fauci Pleads the Fifth", "2026-07-29", "2026", "2026-07", "Republican", "Senate", "MO", "Josh Hawley", "H001089", "www.hawley.senate.gov", "hawley", "https://www.hawley.senate.gov/press-releases/page/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2014 Today, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) grilled Dr. Anthony Fauci in a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing over his self-dealings, pursuit of awards and cash prizes, and illegal use of federal employees and resources amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Fauci pled the Fifth each time, refusing to answer any of Senator Hawley\u2019s questions. Fauci even pled the Fifth when Senator Hawley asked what day of the week it was, what color his tie was, and what color the carpet in front of him was, proving he had no intention to answer questions in good faith.\n\nSenator Hawley began, \u201cLet\u2019s just get one thing straight: you don\u2019t have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you\u2019ve been pardoned, as you very well know, as the Supreme Court has been clear for a century and more. Brown v. Walker, 1896. \u2018When he has been pardoned, he may not stand upon his privilege.\u2019 \u2026 I think I know why you\u2019re doing it. It\u2019s because you don\u2019t want to answer questions. It\u2019s because you did all kinds of terrible things. It\u2019s because during the pandemic you got rich, didn\u2019t you? You got rich while people were dying. Hundreds of thousands of Americans, over a million in the end, and you were getting rich. And not only were you doing that, you were using federal employees with taxpayer money to apply for and solicit cash prizes for you personally, cash prizes totaling over a million dollars. You did all of that during the pandemic, didn\u2019t you? That\u2019s a question.\u201d\n\nDr. Fauci refused to answer Senator Hawley\u2019s question, stating, \u201cOn the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou remember Greg Folkers, who was that? \u2026 Your chief of staff is the answer. Do you remember Patricia Conrad? Who was that?\u201d Hawley asked. \u201cShe was your personal assistant. And what were these individuals doing in the depth of the pandemic in November of 2020, when millions of Americans were suffering from COVID? What were they doing? I tell you what they\u2019re doing. Folkers was on your behalf, soliciting and gathering information for a cash award. Let\u2019s look at it. We\u2019ve got his email right here, right over my shoulder. Folkers says, \u2018I\u2019m working on this nomination for the Dan David Award for Fauci. We need to beef up the COVID part. Do you have language in the can that you could share that delineates how we responded in new ways to COVID?\u2019 He sends this to multiple federal employees. What was the Dan David Award? Do you remember, Doc?\u201d\n\nFauci again invoked the Fifth Amendment.\n\nSenator Hawley continued, \u201cIt was a $900,000 cash award. $900,000 cash award, and he got it because he used federal employees to get it. And this wasn\u2019t the only award, was it, Dr. Fauci? In fact, you applied for and received at least eight other federal cash prizes on federal time using federal employees and federal resources \u2026 You turned your staff into a full-time application machine.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe most hilarious part is that you weren\u2019t content to even dragoon them into applying for all of these cash awards. You then had them go out to the ethics agencies and ethics watchdogs, and demand that you be able to get the money. That\u2019s right. We\u2019ve got it in your emails. Your staff and employees on federal time, using federal resources, being paid with federal dollars, are soliciting cash for you, and then they\u2019re turning around and saying to the agency, \u2018We don\u2019t want just an answer. We want to get to yes because Fauci wants the money. He wants it. We want to get to yes, and yes takes time.\u2019 This is your chief of staff again using federal email to pressure the agency\u2019s own ethics people so that you can get money, so that you could get rich, and it violated the law, didn\u2019t it, Dr. Fauci?\u201d Hawley questioned.\n\nThe Senator received no answer from Fauci.\n\n\u201cFederal law, as you very well know, prohibits the solicitation of cash awards or other personal benefits for federal employees, and it certainly prohibits using your own employees to do this \u2026 It says it right there in black and white. You cannot use federal resources, federal dollars, federal employees, federal offices, federal email, federal time to solicit cash awards. And you did all of it. And the worst part is, thousands of people were dying while you were doing it. You were supposed to be the nation\u2019s doctor, and you\u2019re playing one on TV, but this is what you were doing with your time. Isn\u2019t that true?\u201d he interrogated.\n\nFauci parroted his invocation of the Fifth Amendment.\n\nSenator Hawley grilled Fauci, \u201cI can\u2019t quite figure out is that why you were so obsessed with it because you\u2019re already rich. I mean, and your scheme worked here. I mean, your net worth now is north of $12 million. You got over a million dollars in cash awards during COVID, during a 12-month, 24-month span during COVID. A million bucks you knocked down in cash money using federal resources. Now you\u2019re worth more than $12 million. You\u2019ve got a pension that, in its first year, paid out north of $400,000 a year. A million people dead. You\u2019re getting rich. A million people dead. You\u2019re using federal employees to get cash awards for you\u2014a million people dead\u2014and you\u2019re here taking the Fifth because you don\u2019t want to admit that what really happened in all that time was a multi-month, multi-year course of self-dealing. Isn\u2019t that true, Dr. Fauci?\u201d\n\nFauci once again refused to answer.\n\n\u201cSilence is admission. And here\u2019s the real thing: at the end of the day, it wasn\u2019t just about the money, really, was it? It was really about a power trip. I mean, through all of this, you want to be the most famous scientist in the world. You were so focused on getting every award and every drop of cash that you could, all because you wanted to be on TV. You wanted to be the sun god of science. You wanted to be the guy who was in charge of it all. You wanted to lambast Trump. You wanted to make sure that nobody else stole your spotlight \u2026 You could sit for InStyle magazine, but you\u2019re here taking the fifth. You could sit for InStyle magazine and get a million bucks in cash awards, but now the cat\u2019s got your tongue. I bet he does. I tell you what. Here\u2019s my conclusion from all of this: This was really all about you the whole time. Somewhere along the way, you lost your way. You may have been a good public servant at one time. I don\u2019t know, but I can tell you from reading your emails now, from looking at what you did, how you used your employees. Somewhere along the line, it became all about you. You became a narcissist and a megalomaniac and a liar, and you\u2019ve lied to the American people, and you\u2019ve lied to this body, and you\u2019ve disgraced your profession by doing it. You called yourself the most famous scientist in the world. You\u2019ve done more to harm science than anybody in my lifetime, and I hope you\u2019ll go home and write that in your diary,\u201dSenator Hawley concluded.", 1, "2026-07-30T07:32:48Z", "2026-07-30T07:34:08Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-exposes-faucis-self-dealings-fauci-pleads-the-fifth/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9854151867330074, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}