Dr. Anthony Fauci Pleads the Fifth During Pandemic Response Senate Hearing

Dr. Anthony Fauci was not about to play ball at Wednesday's Senate hearing, where he was getting grilled about his leadership during the 2020 pandemic ... pleading the 5th Amendment to every question, and sparking at least one heated exchange.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul took the lead during the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing ... focusing on Fauci's private journal entries between December 2019 and December 2022.

Paul subpoenaed the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to testify ... but it seems it'll be a waste of time.

The defiant Fauci told the committee his decision to take the 5th was basically an FU to Paul ... over the senator's "unhinged obsession with calling for my prosecution" and making "repeated slanderous comments" about the medical professional.

At the end of Sen. Paul's questions, one of Fauci's attorneys tried to make a statement, but was angrily shut down by the senator ... who then had security toss the lawyer out of the hearing.

Earlier in the day President Trump slammed Fauci on his social platform truth Social.

One of the most contentious moments of the hearing was when Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno berated Fauci ... asking him, "Who the f*** do you think you are?" Afterward, the Republican lawmaker told him to salvage a little bit of his dignity -- and apologize to all the Americans who were impacted by his mask and vaccine mandates. Fauci, again, took the 5th.