The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8 to 5 Thursday to hold former NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during last week’s hearing on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Democrats unanimously opposed the contempt resolution, claiming the longtime bureaucrat had a well-founded fear of self-incrimination.
Fauci said in his opening statement last week that he would not answer any questions due to what he described as Senator Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) “unhinged” obsession with prosecuting him.
Sen. Paul, the committee chairman, said the Fifth Amendment did not apply because Fauci received a last minute preemptive pardon from Joe Biden in January 2025, and thus did not have to worry about the threat of prosecution.
“Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution,” Paul stated at the outset of the hearing, Thursday’s. “All he had to do was tell the truth.”
Biden’s pardon protected him from federal prosecution for his actions between 2014 and 2025, but Fauci could still face charges for anything after that date, including contempt of Congress.
He also faces potential state charges that are not covered by the pardon. Three states—Florida, Louisiana, and Alabama—have officially launched investigations into Fauci regarding his alleged misdeeds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul said he would refer the contempt charge directly to the Department of Justice, bypassing a full Senate vote.
“PASSED BY REPUBLICANS ON BEHALF OF THE MILLIONS OF AMERICANS AND THEIR FAMILIES STILL AFFECTED YEARS AFTER THE COVID PANDEMIC, THE RESOLUTION TO HOLD ANTHONY FAUCI IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS HAS PASSED OUT OF THE SENATE HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE BY A VOTE OF 8-5,” Paul posted on X following the vote, Thursday.
The Homeland Security Committee’s contempt resolution authorizes Vice President JD Vance, the president of the Senate, to certify it’s report on Fauci to D.C. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
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In a statement following the vote, Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, called it a “crude political stunt” being conducted to “punish Dr Fauci for exercising his constitutional right.”
“Today’s partisan committee vote is a crude political stunt intended to punish Dr. Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights,” Schertler said in a statement posted on social media. “The Senate should reject Senator Paul’s meritless and politically-motivated contempt resolution. For years, Senator Paul has proclaimed to anyone who would listen that Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and put in prison. Dr. Fauci has committed no crime – and Senator Paul knows it.”
Schertler added: “Today’s resolution is a continuation of Senator Paul’s personal vendetta against Dr. Fauci, who spent 50 years in public health and has saved countless lives. It is shameful and wrong that Senator Paul is abusing his power by trying to weaponize the Justice Department against an honorable public servant.”
Democrat lawmakers continue to defend Fauci despite the mountain of damning evidence that is now in the public eye confirming his critics’ worst suspicions.
Sen. Paul last month released over 1,100 pages of Fauci’s diary entries, spanning from December 2019 to December 2022. The bombshell diary entries revealed that the lifelong bureaucrat had private doubts about the virus’s origins even as he publicly insisted that the virus emerged naturally, and that he knew early on that COVID-19 was merely a bad case of the flu while he publicly claimed it was ten times worse than the flu.
Fauci’s diary also revealed that officials knew the COVID shots had rapidly declining efficacy, but hid this from the public because it would weaken the legal case for mandates.
He also ignored countless vaccine safety signals, even concealing his own pulmonary infarction—a known COVID vax injury—four months after getting vaccinated, his diary entries revealed.
The journals documented numerous other examples of his duplicity, along with his appalling arrogance, and preoccupation with fame and adoration as infections rose.
