JONATHAN TURLEY: Fauci took the Fifth, but his diary may have already answered for him

"Stick with the science and never veer from that, even when the science turns out to be an inconvenient truth for somebody." 

Dr. Anthony Fauci, then director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, delivered those words to Georgetown students in 2017 as the touchstone of medical ethics.

On Wednesday, before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Fauci replaced that line by repeatedly saying, "On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution."

FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH 'ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION' AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES

The optics could not have been worse, but what you saw depended largely on how you viewed the hearing. For critics, Fauci sounded like Crazy Joe Gallo without the sunglasses. 

For supporters, Fauci is still a hero who refused to fall into a trap laid for him. Democratic senators such as Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., actually praised Fauci for refusing to answer questions before Congress.

There is no question that it is Fauci's right to invoke his privilege against self-incrimination, and many advised him to do so. The privilege can be invoked for strategic reasons separate from any criminal culpability. After all, he was given a last-minute pardon by President Joe Biden, and any false statements he made before the committee could be used to bring criminal charges against him.

However, Fauci is unlike many who have invoked the privilege. Unlike many past witnesses who have invoked it, Fauci has testified for days in countless prior hearings. He also has appeared in countless interviews on these issues. He had reason to fear this hearing after his diary revealed startling contradictions between his private observations and his public statements.

The question many will ask is why Fauci could not just "stick with the science" and resolve these contradictions. The fact is that he would have had difficulty dealing with his own "inconvenient truths."

FAUCI PRIVATELY TOOK CREDIT FOR COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS DESPITE PUBLIC DENIAL, NEWLY EXPOSED DIARY ENTRIES REVEAL

Fauci's opening statement expressed obvious anger over the release of his "unredacted diary."

The new evidence shows that Fauci connected the Wuhan lab to the emerging crisis before most people had ever heard of the lab. It also shows him repeatedly referencing the lab's gain-of-function work and discounting the "wet market" as the true origin of the virus, viewing it instead as an "amplifier."

Some of the most embarrassing areas for Fauci concerned his entries acknowledging that he pushed to close schools despite public denials that he ever recommended such closures. His entries take credit for convincing figures such as then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the staff of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and others to close schools.

FAUCI'S DIARY SHOWS HE FED QUESTIONS TO JOURNALISTS, BUILT FRIENDSHIPS WITH MEDIA FIGURES

In an Oct. 16, 2022, ABC interview, Fauci repeated that denial, saying, "They always come back and say, 'Fauci was r