Contempt Vote and Referral
Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. The vote came after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer questions at a hearing last week about his role in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee voted 8 to 5 on the resolution, with all Democrats opposing, and two more opposing by proxy vote.[S2][S4]
While the next step would typically be a vote on the Senate floor, committee chairman Rand Paul told CBS News that he intends to send the contempt resolution directly to the Justice Department as a referral. Paul, a Kentucky Republican, has for years accused Fauci of misleading the public about the source of the outbreak. He released more than 1,000 pages of documents from Fauci's time leading the government's response to the pandemic.[S4]
Fauci's Defense and Democratic Criticism
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who led the agency for 38 years before retiring in 2022, gave the same response to dozens of questions during the tense hearing. He accused Paul of having an 'unhinged obsession' with him and of harboring a goal of 'embarrassing and intimidating me' and putting him 'behind bars.' Fauci's attorney told CBS News that Fauci had 'solid legal ground' in asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege.[S3][S4]
Top Democrats criticized the Republican-led process. Michigan Senator Gary Peters, the ranking Democrat on the panel, argued that the drive to subpoena Fauci and hold him in contempt accomplished nothing to advance public health. Peters said Paul's work amounts to 'a one-sided investigation and a rushed process … that could harm our ability to conduct future investigations.'[S3]
Pardon and Legal Questions
Paul has argued that Fauci couldn't invoke the Fifth Amendment because he is already insulated from prosecution by a Biden-era pardon. Fauci, 85, was pardoned by Joe Biden at the end of his presidency. Paul stressed that the panel wasn't voting on Fauci's opinions or policies, but on whether a witness who has received a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered to answer questions and defy that order without consequence.[S3][S4]
The evening before the vote, it emerged that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had provided a copy of Fauci's phone to a Senate subcommittee. Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the subcommittee's chair, wrote on social media, 'Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week's hearing.'[S3]
