Anthony Fauci invokes Fifth Amendment during US Senate hearing on Covid-19 pandemic origins

Former top US health official Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a US Senate hearing about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying he feared Republican lawmakers would try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

Days before the hearing, Republican Senator Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's pandemic-era diary, in which he mused about his fame and the origins of Covid.

Fauci became the face of the US response to the pandemic from his frequent briefings to the public, as scientists were trying to uncover new information about the virus as quickly as possible.