US Senate panel votes to hold Fauci in contempt over COVID hearing

A US Senate committee has voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress over his refusal to answer questions about COVID-19 at a hearing. Dr. Fauci cited fear of potential criminal charges due to Republican efforts to "get me behind bars" as his reason for invoking the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during the hearing.

The committee has now referred Dr. Fauci to the US Attorney's Office in Washington, which will decide whether to investigate or prosecute him for contempt. Dr. Fauci's pardon from former President Joe Biden, valid from 2014 to January 2025, does not protect him from state-level prosecutions or investigations into any testimony he gave that politicians deemed false.

Senator Rand Paul, the Republican committee chairman, stated that the constitutional privilege did not apply to Dr. Fauci, but Dr. Fauci maintained that he feared criminal charges given Senator Paul's determination to provoke an incriminating response. Senator Paul, who has previously referred Dr. Fauci to the Justice Department on his own, acknowledged that contempt resolutions typically pass through the full Senate but decided against moving the matter to a full Senate vote. Instead, he will send the referral to the committee for a recommendation.