Dr Fauci's face says it all after secret Bill Gates COVID bombshell rocks hearing

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 21:48, 29 July 2026 | Updated: 21:59, 29 July 2026 Republican Senator Rand Paul revealed during an explosive hearing with Dr Anthony Fauci on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates held a top-level security clearance during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Bill Gates was given Q security clearance from 2014 to 2021,' Paul stated in the final moments of Wednesday's hearing with Fauci on Capitol Hill, alluding to clearance first granted during the Obama administration.  A Q security clearance is a high-level access authorization granted by the  Department of Energy (DOE) that is functionally equivalent to a Department of Defense Top Secret clearance. Gates was given that clearance due to his involvement with the company TerraPower, which was involved in nuclear innovation. During an earlier round of questioning from Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott, Fauci was asked if he partnered with 'Bill Gates on global health initiatives or vaccines,' or if he had 'knowledge of Bill Gates partnering with China on sensitive research.'  Fauci refused to answer both questions. Scott then further pressed Fauci on Gates, asking if he was involved in any classified government programs, used research such as countermeasures or gain of function, and even asked if he maintains an active national security clearance.  Kentucky Republican Rand Paul dropped a bombshell revelation that Bill Gates held a top-level security clearance during the COVID-19 pandemic at his hearing with Dr Anthony Fauci on Wednesday Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and medical advisor to several presidents was the subject of a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill on Wednesday Gates himself recently appeared on Capitol Hill to sit for a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a longtime connection of his Gates and Fauci have shared ties for over 20 years. Beginning in 2003, Fauci served on a scientific advisory board that received partial funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  In 2010, he also became involved in an initiative backed by the foundation and global health organizations, including the World Health Organization, to develop a Global Vaccine Action Plan. Gates noted in 2021 that the two remained in regular contact and spoke frequently throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In total, Fauci refused to answer 111 questions about COVID-19 origins during an explosive hearing where he blasted Republicans' 'unhinged obsession' with him. The former chief medical advisor invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination in the opening round. He then continued to do so over 100 separate times when interrogated by lawmakers on the committee. 'On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,' Fauci told Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul numerous times in the opening round of questions. During his opening statement, Fauci earlier accused Paul of having an 'unhinged obsession' with him. 'Given Senator 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,' Fauci noted. '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 continued. 'Any reasonable person who has followed his unhinged obsession with me would readily come to the same conclusion,' he added. Earlier, Fauci's attorney David Schertler was physically removed by security after attempting to speak on his client's behalf. 'I didn't invite you here to testify,' Paul snapped as officers moved in. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, later read a statement from Schertler accusing Paul of mounting something other than 'a serious effort to seek information' and of having 'built a personal brand' around his prosecution of the doctor. Paul hit back, noting that in 'no courtroom in America' could a witness plead the Fifth and then have his lawyer testify for him. 'The attorney is complaining and testifying, saying you didn't do it. The prosecution is unfair. You don't get to do that. That's one thing you give up when you take the Fifth Amendment,' he said. 'He was not invited to testify, he was out of order, and it was appropriate to have him ejected.' Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican,  spoke in front of a board featuring a quote from an e-mail attributed to Greg Folkers, former Chief of Staff to Fauci, which discussed an award Fauci was applying for in recognition of his work during the pandemic Members of the audience, who say they were negatively impacted by their skepticism to Covid-19 precautions, stood behind up Fauci, at the urging of US Senator Bernie Moreno Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, accused Fauci of using federal staff to enrich himself during the pandemic by soliciting awards recognizing his work. 'You turned your staff into a full-time application machine. You actually wrote to people and said, 'Do you think maybe I qualify?' And you got cash for all of this,' Hawley said. 'You used eight separate federal employees on federal time using federal resources to solicit cash for that.' Hawley argued the pardon had stripped him of that protection, citing Brown v. Walker, the 1896 Supreme Court ruling holding that a pardoned witness 'may not stand upon his privilege.' Legal scholars are divided on the point, with some arguing the privilege survives where a witness still faces state charges or perjury exposure.  Fauci's personal diaries were released earlier this week, showing how he delighted in his interactions with celebrities as America went through the death throes of the early COVID-19 pandemic. The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who also became chief medical advisor to Joe Biden, Fauci achieved remarkable fame of his own during the lockdowns in 2020, a fact that was raised throughout Wednesday's hearing.