TMZ founder Harvey Levin defended Dr Anthony Fauci after the former US infectious-disease official invoked the Fifth Amendment during a contentious Senate hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Levin called Fauci an “amazing public servant” and described efforts to imprison him as among the most heartbreaking developments he had seen in government, comparing them with McCarthy-era persecution.

The Republican-led hearing was chaired by Senator Rand Paul, who has long accused Fauci of misleading Congress and mishandling questions around COVID-19’s origins and research funding. Fauci declined to answer more than 100 questions, arguing that the hearing sought statements that could expose him to fresh legal jeopardy; Paul said the committee would vote the following week on whether to hold him in contempt.