Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley was given a reality check after claiming that Dr. Anthony Fauci isn't "honest" after he invoked the Fifth Amendment during a hearing on Wednesday about his handling of the COVID pandemic.
The move temporarily spared Fauci from answering questions that could have exposed him to allegations of lying under oath. Although former President Joe Biden granted him a pardon in early 2025, some Republicans who have pushed for years to pursue legal action against Fauci argued he could still face prosecution for any perjury committed during Wednesday's testimony.
Hawley took to social media to share a clip from his own questioning of Fauci in which Fauci invokes the Fifth Amendment multiple times.
To this, Hawley declared:
"I asked Fauci basic questions: What day of the week is it today? What color tie are you wearing? What color is the carpet in front of you? He pled the Fifth and refused to answer every time."
He followed up with:
"Hint for you: no honest person pleads the Fifth."
You can see his posts below.
But Hawley’s criticism overlooks an inconvenient detail: President Donald Trump has repeatedly relied on the very same constitutional protection. During a 2022 deposition in the New York attorney general’s civil fraud investigation into his company, Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 440 times.
Notably, Trump's son, Eric Trump, and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg invoked the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 500 times during a deposition related to the same investigation.
The contrast is made even starker by Trump’s own past rhetoric such as during a 2016 campaign rally in Iowa, when he declared:
“The mob takes the Fifth Amendment. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
Hawley was swiftly called out.
@mjfree/X
Hawley's hypocrisy is pretty staggering considering he clearly doesn't apply the same principles to the leader of his own party.
Not a good look, Senator.
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