00:00Dr. Anthony Fauci played a huge role in the nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic,
00:04especially in the state of California, where his advice was closely followed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
00:09Fauci is back in the news this week because he testified, or rather declined to testify,
00:14in front of a Senate panel where he invoked the Fifth Amendment no fewer than 111 times.
00:19I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
00:24It's against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress.
00:28Fauci was reluctant to speak because he was afraid of perjuring himself
00:32after Senator Rand Paul, a longtime antagonist, released his diary from the pandemic,
00:38which inexplicably Fauci had kept on a government computer.
00:40And the interesting thing about the diary is that Fauci was musing privately in ways that were very different to
00:46what he was saying publicly.
00:48For example, at the time, publicly, he said that he had not recommended that school districts close down,
00:53that that was a decision made by state and local leaders.
00:55But in his diary, he specifically mentioned speaking to local leaders about exactly that,
00:59including to Governor Gavin Newsom's staff.
01:01It's hard to believe now, but Fauci was once a unifying figure.
01:05He was seen as a leader and as an exemplar of science in the early days of the pandemic.
01:10But over time, as Fauci started becoming the voice of government lockdowns and mask mandates and vaccine mandates,
01:17he became increasingly controversial.
01:19And on the right, he was also seen as a hypocrite because he was seen taking off his own mask
01:23at a Washington Nationals baseball game
01:25where he threw out or rather dribbled the first pitch.
01:29Fauci is still lionized by the left.
01:32They see him as a symbol of science and truth against misinformation.
01:35And that is how Fauci has continued to portray himself even after he has left government service.
01:41Last year, he gave a speech at the University of San Francisco, where he received an honorary doctorate,
01:46where he encouraged graduates to stand up for truth and to stand up for science against anti-science ideology.
01:53He had an opportunity to stand up this week when he went to the Senate.
01:57But Fauci took the fifth.
01:58And when you read his diaries, it's not hard to understand why.
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