Dr Anthony Fauci sat through a grueling Capitol Hill hearing on Wednesday in which he provided no answers to a bounty of questions from irritated lawmakers.

In the hearing, Fauci refused to answer more than 111 questions about COVID-19, starting with the moment he invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination in the opening round of remarks. 

He then continued doing so repeatedly when interrogated by the committee's lawmakers.

Speaking with members of the media after Wednesday's hearing on Capitol Hill, Kentucky Republican Paul, the committee chairman, revealed that he planned to hold a vote to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress next week.

'That's the vote that will happen in committee next week, it will be on contempt of Congress,' Paul told reporters.

'We believe with his liability, his immunity from criminal liability, that he didn't need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment and that maybe the Fifth Amendment doesn't attach when you have a pardon in place,' he continued, adding that the ability to plead the Fifth, as mentioned by Hawley, 'will be a legal question.'

'But the question on contempt will be voted on and then there's a question of whether or not the Department of Justice will take it up,' Paul concluded.

If you didn't sit through Wednesday's hearing, read on for a breakdown of the most explosive moments.

Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination in his opening statements and the first round of questions. He then continued doing so repeatedly when interrogated by the committee's lawmakers.

'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.

Fauci's lead attorney, David Schertler, was removed by security after trying to speak on his client's behalf.

'I didn't invite you here to testify,' Paul told him, before ordering guards to eject him.

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, later read out a statement from Schertler accusing Paul of running something other than 'a serious effort to seek information'. The Republican, it said, has 'built a personal brand' around his pursuit of the doctor.

Paul hit back that in no courtroom in America can 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,' he said. 'That's one thing you give up when you take the Fifth Amendment and say I'm not going to testify.'

'He was not invited to testify, he was out of order, and it was appropriate to have him ejected.'

Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno called Dr. Anthony Fauci a 'total disgrace' during a heated hearing on the origins of the coronavirus, where the former chief medical advisor invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times to avoid answering questions.

Moreno said he felt compelled to run for office six years ago after seeing a story about a mother being arrested for watching a football game outside with her family — a violation of government guidelines based on Fauci's advice.

'Who the [Expletive] do you think you were for doing that?' Moreno exclaimed. 'It was a total disgrace to this country, and if my Democrat colleagues are standing there defending you, I hope the voters of the United States of America have watched clips of every one of them building up a guy who was more interested in being a celebrity than doing his job.'

Earlier in his remarks, Moreno asked members of the audience who believed they had been negatively impacted by their skepticism toward COVID-19 precautions to stand. Nearly all of the general public present rose in support behind Fauci.

Republican Senator Rand Paul revealed 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.

Fauci provided no answers.

Fox News host Laura Ingraham attended Wednesday's hearing, where Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

During Fauci's remarks, Ingraham was captured rolling her eyes, shaking her head, and frowning numerous times. 

Members of the audience, who say they were negatively impacted by their skepticism of COVID-19 precautions, stood behind Fauci, at the urging of US Senator Bernie Moreno, and Ingraham was included in that crowd. 

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