Dear Editor,

In her book Oath and Honor, Liz Cheney writes, government service should be rooted in love of country and commitment to principle — but that what she saw from her own party was unprincipled. She was referring to Republicans who still claim the 2020 presidential election was “stolen,” a lie that helped fuel the January 6th Capitol riot. She was right. Now we can add another example of unprincipled behavior from this administration.

The recent Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci was a wasteful embarrassment. Senator Rand Paul spent hours attacking the competence of the man who helped deliver a COVID-19 vaccine in record time — a vaccine that saved millions of American lives.

Dr. Fauci ultimately invoked his Fifth Amendment, explaining that he feared the hearing was designed not to uncover truth but to manufacture a perjury charge against him, a goal Senator Paul has publicly stated before.

Dr. Fauci has been with the National Institute of Health for over 50 years. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2008. A Presidential Commendation from President Trump in January 2021 for his work on providing a vaccine for COVID-19, “Operation Warp Speed”.

History will remember Dr. Fauci as a good man with no mention of the Republican senators who abused their power that day.

Sincerely,

Larry Podolsky