BOMBSHELL: Fauci PLEADS THE FIFTH Under Oath in Explosive COVID Cover-Up Hearing

QUESTION: What happens if Fauci invokes the Fifth?

SENATOR RAND PAUL: “I think the American people would be very disappointed if that happens.”

“Somebody who works for 40 years for the government, I think they have an obligation to explain to Americans how the decision was… pic.twitter.com/5fI4lB8mzN

— Overton (@overton_news) July 29, 2026

After years of insisting he acted properly and had nothing to conceal, Fauci declined to answer because his response could incriminate him.

Anthony Fauci
Fauci privately took credit for COVID-19 lockdowns despite public denial, newly exposed diary entries reveal

Multiple 2020 entries contradict Fauci’s repeated public denials that he recommended COVID lockdowns or school closures

BY: Peter D’Abrosca By Peter D’Abrosca Fox News, July 28, 2026:

Fauci’s private COVID diaries expose obsession with fame, lockdowns
Despite denying on multiple occasions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic that he personally recommended lockdowns, excerpts revealed from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s private diary prove a clear contradiction.

In a March 15, 2020, entry in the diary, which begins with “BIG DAY!” written in red letters, Fauci, then the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) recalled a striking conversation he had with then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci testifies before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about the COVID-19 response in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 4, 2021. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“I had a similar call with Ann O’Leary, the [Chief of Staff] of Gov. Gavin Newsom of California,” this particular entry went on. “Ann said that based on my TV appearances today and yesterday, the Governor has decided to close the schools in California as well as the bars and restaurants.”

But seven months later, in an Oct. 16, 2022, interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, Fauci denied any involvement in inspiring lockdowns.

“Let’s go back and look at the transcript. We said we should try as best as we possibly can to keep the children in school,” Fauci said. “Nobody plays that clip.”

“They always come back and say, ‘Fauci was responsible for shutting schools down.’ I had nothing to do [with it]!” he insisted at the time.

EXPOSED FAUCI DIARY SHOWS HE ESTIMATED COVID-19 DEATH RATE TO BE MUCH LOWER THAN WHAT HE TOLD CONGRESS

In 2022, he told The Hill that he “didn’t recommend locking anything down,” clearly going against his own privately recorded entries.

On January 9, 2024, years after the end of lockdowns ended, Fauci testified the same thing before the House Oversight Committee.

“I did not close the schools,” he said, according to the hearing transcript. And it became the widespread situation where I became a political target.”

Fauci recommended to government leaders lockdown measures besides just closing schools, which he would also later deny.

In the March 15, 2020, diary entry, Fauci, once the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, said he directed de Blasio to close the city’s bars.

“I went on to tell him he should close the bars and restaurants in NYC. He said that he would base this on my recommendation,” Fauci wrote.

Five days later, he said he told the mayor to close all of New York City.

“Also, had phone call with [Mayor] de Blasio who wants to go to ‘shelter in place for the entire city.[‘] He is asking my advice since Gov. Cuomo is pushing back. I advised DeBlasio [sic] to go ahead and do it. I will try to speak with Cuomo,” the entry said.

On March 29, 2020, Fauci recounted a tense meeting with President Donald Trump, who he described as “incorrigible.”

The goal of the meeting was to get the president to extend lockdowns after the initial “15 days to stop the spread” period, which began on March 16 of 2020 — about a month after the first case of COVID-19 was recorded in the U.S.

“At the end of the day, it was a good outcome since we convinced him to go with 30 day (sic) instead of ending the mitigation prematurely, which I feel would be a disaster,” Fauci said.

In a November 28, 2020, diary entry, he recalled lending support to a Los Angeles County health official who wanted to lock the county down.

“Got call last night from Mark Ghaly (Deputy Director for Community Health for the LA County Dept of Health Services). He has called me several times for advice,” the diary says. “Frantic call saying that they are surging in LA County and very soon hospital beds will be overrun. He wants to do a 3 weeks shutdown of the city to ‘stop the surge’ and wants my support since there is a large pushback to locking down. I agreed to support him.”

A signboard reminds people of a face covering requirement in Los Angeles