a book worth reading

 

In 2024, Dr. Anthony Fauci released a book titled, “On call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service”. I read it shortly after it came out, and found it to be very inspirational.

 

 Here are some reviews of the book:

 “The memoir by the doctor who became a beacon of hope for millions through the COVID pandemic, and whose six-decade career in high-level public service put him in the room with seven presidents”

“An eventful autobiography [and] a classic American story…Gripping.”—The Washington Post

“One of the most consequential and most prominent [careers] in American medicine in the past fifty years.”—Jerome Groopman, The New Yorker

Dr. Fauci has had an impressive career, which is detailed in the Wikipedia article about him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Fauci

Anthony Stephen Fauci^[a] (born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022 and as Chief Medical Advisor to the President from 2021 to 2022. He was one of the world's most frequently cited scientists across all scientific journals from 1983 to 2002.^[6][7]

Fauci graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, where he studied classics, and earned his Doctor of Medicine from Cornell University. As a physician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Fauci served in the American public health sector for more than fifty years and has acted as an advisor to every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan.^[8] During his time as director of the NIAID, he made contributions to HIV/AIDS research and other immunodeficiency diseases, both as a research scientist and as the head of the NIAID.^[6] In 2008, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work on PEPFAR, an AIDS relief program, by President George W. Bush.^[9]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci served under President Donald Trump as one of the lead members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. His advice was frequently contradicted by Trump, and Trump's supporters alleged that Fauci was trying to politically undermine Trump's run for re-election in 2020. As part of the Biden administration, Fauci served as one of the lead members of the White House COVID-19 Response Team and as Biden's chief medical advisor, during which time his advice was generally supported.^[10][11] On Biden's last day in office, Fauci was issued a preemptive pardon covering potential federal offenses between January 1, 2014, and January 19, 2025.

As you are aware, Dr. Fauci has been in the news again this week:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/08/06/anthony-fauci-is-not-contempt/

The headline in today’s Washington Post tells us why:

The contempt vote against Fauci was a stunt

A Senate committee voted Thursday along party lines to approve a resolution holding Fauci in contempt of Congress for invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times. It would be an abuse of prosecutorial power if the Trump administration were to use this stunt to pursue criminal charges against the 85-year-old.

Fauci explained that he would not cooperate with the committee because its chair, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), had an “obvious obsession” with trying to engineer his prosecution.

 Paul has argued that Fauci’s refusal to testify amounted to an obstruction of Congress’s investigative authorities. “A subpoena with no consequence is not a subpoena,” Paul said on Thursday. “It’s a suggestion.”

 But Fauci did comply with the subpoena. Unlike Peter Navarro and Stephen K. Bannon, who were convicted of contempt of Congress after refusing to appear before the House’s special committee to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, Fauci endured hours of public humiliation from Republican lawmakers as he repeatedly claimed the Fifth.

 The more complicated legal question is whether Fauci had a right to invoke that right after President Joe Biden granted him a preemptive pardon before leaving office. But that does not stop prosecution at the state level. Three Republican state attorneys general have opened a probe into him.

 Given the repeated statements by Paul and other leading Republicans that Fauci deserves to be behind bars, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases had reasonable fears that anything he said would be used against him.

If you are of the opinion that Rand Paul’s committee was correct in issuing a subpoena against Fauci, consider this fact:

Donald Trump pleaded the Fifth Amendment on August 10, 2022, during a four-hour deposition for a civil fraud investigation led by New York Attorney General Letitia James. [1, 2, 3]

 

Deposition Details

• Location: New York, New York (at the New York Attorney General Office).
• Case: Civil investigation into the Trump Organization's business practices and asset valuations.
• Frequency: Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 440 times during the questioning. [1, 2, 3, 4]
•  

Background & Statements

  

• Prior Stance: Trump had previously criticized others for using the constitutional protection, famously stating that "if you're innocent, you're not taking the 5th" and comparing it to the mob. [1, 2]
• Explanation: In a statement released during the deposition, Trump explained his change in perspective, stating that he had no choice because his family, company, and people in his orbit were targeted in an "unfounded, politically motivated witch hunt". [1]

 Watching political news can be exhausting, so here is my advice:

 Turn off the television, and read a book, starting with Dr. Fauci’s.

 You’ll have a better appreciation for the experts in our society who protect us from harm – even when they are long past retirement age.