A Senate committee voted 8-5 along party lines Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
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The vote by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs follows a hearing last week where Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
“The witness had many chances to answer the questions pertinent to our investigation, and he made his decision 111 times,” Committee Chairman Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said in an opening statement before the vote.
Fauci served in his position for 38 years, quietly advising seven presidents before the COVID-19 pandemic put him at the center of a partisan firestorm. He retired from government service in late 2022.
Paul has repeatedly targeted Fauci over the years, accusing him of lying about “gain-of-function” research in a Chinese lab that had support from Fauci’s NIAID. Gain-of-function research is a form of scientific experimentation that involves viruses and their genetics. Fauci has said the research funded in China does not fit that definition.
Paul also described Fauci as “sainted by the extreme left” in a statement last month and accused him of lying before Congress. Fauci’s lawyer David Schertler described Paul’s continued campaign against him as “an obsessive vendetta.”
What Is Contempt of Congress?
Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor criminal offense intended to hold witnesses accountable for blocking congressional investigations, generally by refusing to comply with a subpoena. If a witness is found in contempt by the House or Senate, they are referred to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Offenders can be charged with up to a year in jail time and a fine of up to $100,000.
Senate Republicans are accusing Fauci of misusing the Fifth Amendment, contending that a “preemptive pardon” Fauci received from former President Joe Biden disqualifies him from invoking such a right.
“We are voting on whether a witness who has received the benefit of a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered by this committee to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence,” Paul said in his opening statement at the meeting.
Republicans also pointed to Fauci’s opening testimony in the hearing as contradictory, saying he could not testify and refuse to testify simultaneously.
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What Happens Now?
Generally, contempt votes that pass through a committee end up on the Senate floor. If passed there, Fauci would be referred to U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, who could present the case to a grand jury.
But Paul says he doesn’t “want to waste time” sending it to the floor, considering it’s unlikely to pass the necessary 60-vote threshold. Instead, the committee will refer the matter straight to the Justice Department. It’s then up to prosecutors whether they will decide to take up the highly partisan case.
If Fauci were prosecuted, he would be far from the first government official to face such a charge. Steve Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, faced four months in prison and a fine of $650,000 after being held in contempt by the House in 2021. Bannon refused to appear at a hearing or produce documents required by a congressional subpoena relating to the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.
Fauci’s Documents
Senate Republicans have obtained some of Fauci’s belongings multiple times in the past month as part of their ongoing investigation into his actions during the pandemic.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he obtained a copy of Fauci’s iPhone used during the pandemic on Wednesday night.
“Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing,” Johnson wrote in a social media post.
Last week, Paul released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci’s personal diary, which Republicans used to paint Fauci as egotistical and self-important as he chronicled his evolution into a household name during the pandemic.
But Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top-ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called into question the ethics of Paul’s involvement in the investigation, considering his prior comments about wishing to see Fauci behind bars.
“It just would never occur to me to go around saying a witness should be in prison and then try to prevent them from invoking their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination over the very matter I’m claiming is criminal,” Raskin said.
