Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois took to the Senate floor this week to deliver a full blown tribute to Anthony Fauci, even after Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times before a Senate panel.

Durbin portrayed Fauci as a national treasure who has been mistreated by Republicans, a familiar routine from Democrats whenever one of their favored bureaucrats faces actual questions.

“Dr. Fauci is an example of American excellence, a brilliant scientific mind, and yet the Republican Party has chosen to make this doctor, who saved countless lives, a political target,” Durbin said.

That glowing defense came after Fauci appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where he refused to answer questions about his role during the pandemic, his public statements, and contradictions found in his personal diary.

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The diary, released by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, has raised fresh scrutiny because it reportedly showed Fauci acknowledging that scientists believed the virus likely came from a lab leak, even as that possibility was publicly mocked and dismissed.

Durbin, however, chose to focus not on Fauci’s silence under questioning, but on the supposedly cruel treatment of a longtime Washington medical power broker.

“Last week, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs subpoenaed Dr. Fauci in front of Congress for a hearing, with the express goal of humiliating and vilifying him,” Durbin complained.

The Democrat then accused Republicans of mistreating Fauci during the hearing, framing basic accountability as some sort of grave Senate offense.

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“For nearly three hours, my Republican colleagues berated, cursed, and insulted a man who has dedicated his life to protecting the health of American families. This behavior is below the dignity of the Senate,” he said.

That is rich coming from the party that spent years lecturing Americans, shutting down dissent, and treating parents, workers, and small business owners like public health criminals for daring to ask questions.

Durbin also claimed the hearing was a political spectacle rather than a serious inquiry, even though Fauci’s pandemic record remains one of the most consequential and disputed chapters in recent American government.

“Put simply, it was an embarrassment,” Durbin said, before accusing Republicans of chasing what he called “COVID conspiracy theories.”

The problem for Durbin is that many of the questions once dismissed as fringe are now part of the public record, including serious concerns about the origins of the virus and the shifting guidance that defined the pandemic years.

Durbin insisted Republicans were trying to “try and tear down a man who’s devoted his entire life to lifting others up,” and added that Fauci “deserves an apology for the way he was treated by my colleagues.”

“And the American people deserve better than the pitiful display we saw in the Senate last Wednesday,” Durbin added.

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Republicans see it very differently, especially after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment repeatedly despite receiving a pardon that Chairman Rand Paul said removed the basis for such a refusal.

“The chairman has denied your assertion of privilege and directed you to answer, but you nonetheless refuse and stand on privilege despite the existence of the pardon,” Paul said during the hearing.

“The committee will have to consider after this hearing what appropriate action should be taken against you for the failure to testify after being directed to do so,” Paul added.

Paul has now announced that the committee will vote Thursday morning on a resolution to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.

“Dr. Fauci appeared under subpoena and invoked the Fifth Amendment to refuse answering questions,” Paul said in a statement.

“During the hearing, I ruled that the Fifth Amendment did not apply because of the pardon, and that Fauci had waived any remaining privilege by giving opening testimony. I ordered him to answer and warned him about contempt, yet he still refused.”

Paul’s conclusion was blunt and direct.

“That is obstruction of a congressional investigation. The Committee will act accordingly.”

For Democrats, Fauci remains a secular saint of the pandemic era, shielded from scrutiny no matter how many questions pile up around his statements, his emails, his diary, and his testimony.

For millions of Americans who lived through mandates, closures, censorship, and endless lectures from experts who kept changing their story, Durbin’s demand for an apology lands like another insult from Washington’s protected class.

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