Democrats Doom Rand Paul’s Push To Compel Testimony From Mystery Witness In Fauci Case

Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Rand Paul's bid to compel immunized testimony from a longtime aide to Dr. Anthony Fauci accused of destroying federal records on his behalf. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee resolution needed a two-thirds majority but failed 8-7 on Wednesday. The unnamed witness had invoked the Fifth Amendment when subpoenaed to a private meeting with senators last week, following Fauci's own refusal to answer more than one hundred questions at a July 29 hearing, according to Daily Caller.

Paul said he placed ultimate blame on Fauci rather than the aide and did not want her criminally charged, but he plans to refer the matter to the Department of Justice and seek her records from the past three years. He described her as a special assistant who worked for Fauci from 2007 until his 2022 departure from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, involved in communications as Fauci and then-Wellcome Trust Director Jeremy Farrar produced a paper downplaying a possible Wuhan lab origin for COVID-19. Paul did not name her, though Patricia Conrad, a special assistant from that same period, appears frequently in relevant communications. Separately, a National Institutes of Health employee, Marge Moore, was said in an email to have helped Fauci aide David Morens erase emails; Morens pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy charges tied to records destruction. Paul called the vote a refusal to seek the truth, while Sen. Bernie Moreno faulted Democrats for voting by proxy without attending, apart from Ranking Member Maggie Hassan.

Summarized by PolitiKool from Daily Caller’s reporting. Read the full story at Daily Caller →