Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not answer senators’ questions at a hearing Wednesday to avoid potentially being prosecuted for perjury as Congress again investigates the origins of COVID-19 and the federal government’s handling of the pandemic. Fauci’s decision surprised those at the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing and frustrated Chairman Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has called for the Justice Department to consider criminal charges against him.“Sen. Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary, aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something — anything — that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said in his opening statement. “Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion.”Despite this, body language experts who analyzed the footage told HuffPost that Fauci seemed controlled and restrained. “His posture remains relatively rigid, his facial movement is limited, and he deliberately reduces the gestures and expressive reactions that have characterized many of his previous congressional appearances,” said Abbie Marono, a behavioral scientist. Dr Fauci used his opening statement to put Rand Paul on blast for having an "unhinged obsession with calling for my prosecution" and announced he'd be taking the 5th in response to his questions. Paul responded by throwing a fit and kicking Fauci's lawyer out of the hearing room. pic.twitter.com/HQT7zsMFJ1— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 29, 2026Marono also noted that Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until December 2022, spoke in a controlled tone and remained in the same physically neutral position while speaking to the panel. After every question, Fauci answered with the same phrase: “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.” “Even as the accusations become more forceful, he does not match that energy or visibly prepare to defend himself,” Marono said. “The nonverbal message is very clear: He is refusing to participate in the confrontation beyond what is legally required.”Getty Images“His posture remains relatively rigid, his facial movement is limited, and he deliberately reduces the gestures and expressive reactions that have characterized many of his previous congressional appearances,” said Abbie Marono, a behavioral scientist.Meanwhile, throughout the questioning, Paul appears to be “swiveling around in his chair and bouncing a bit,” Traci Brown, a body language expert, told HuffPost. “He’s the less confident one.” Fauci has testified before congressional committees “well over 200 times,” he said during the hearing. That experience may contribute to his being “stoic, nonexpressionless” while “framed perfectly for the cameras to be straight on,” Susan Constantine, a body language deception expert, told HuffPost.“He knows that people are going to be looking at him, so he’s very hyperconscious of how he’s actually appearing in front of people [and] in front of the camera,” Constantine said. Even while Fauci is pleading the Fifth, he does not emit any psychophysiological responses to the questions he’s being asked — such as shifting around in his seat and looking down — which would undermine how confident he is that he is right, Constantine added. At the end of the questioning, Paul told Fauci the committee would “have to consider … what appropriate action should be taken against you for the failure to testify after being directed to do so.” Fauci has been the target of conspiracy theories from the right for years. Due to the fear of legal retaliation by the Trump administration or its supporters, then-President Joe Biden pardoned Fauci on Jan. 19, 2025, for any offenses he may have committed since 2014 in connection with COVID-19 or in his role; however, the pardon does not cover subsequent conduct. Paul wrote in a post on X ahead of the hearing that Fauci would face prosecution if he lied to Congress, and has repeatedly alleged in the past that Fauci lied to Congress in a previous testimony. “It’s against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress,” Paul said. “There will be repercussions.” Constantine pointed out that Fauci blinks and subtly rubs his hands behind his name piece on the desk when Paul is saying this to him. “Those are self-soothers when you’re under stress,” she said. “He’s faking it to look like he’s confident, but you can see it leak out through that [eye] flutter. … [And] through rubbing his hands, very lightly, he keeps himself controlled.” After the hearing, Paul called for a vote with his committee Aug. 5 to determine whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.