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The U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today voted along party lines to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to the U.S. Department of Justice for potential prosecution.
The vote came one week after a contentious congressional hearing on the origins of COVID-19 and Fauci’s role in leading the government’s response to the pandemic. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer questions from the committee 111 times.
“Dr. Fauci richly deserves the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s vote today to hold him in contempt,” attorney and Children’s Health Defense CEO Mary Holland told The Defender.
She added:
“Last Wednesday, he gave a contemptuous opening statement, accusing Dr. Rand Paul, the committee chairman, of an ‘unhinged obsession’ against him, but then he proceeded to state, 111 times, his rights under the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination. Dr. Fauci can’t have it both ways — a platform to defame the committee chairman and then the right to withhold speech in light of his sweeping pardon.
“The American public is rightly outraged by his extraordinary ‘diary’ that shows his profoundly two-faced statements to the public. People died from his lies — likely a million Americans and millions more around the world.
“The only positive dimension to this is that the truth is coming out — what happened under Dr. Fauci’s tenure was a crime against humanity.”
Republican senators, including Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the committee chairman who subpoenaed Fauci and called for today’s vote, argued that the “full and unconditional” pardon retroactive to 2014 that former President Joe Biden granted Fauci early last year made him ineligible for Fifth Amendment protections.
Paul overruled Fauci’s claims to Fifth Amendment protections during the hearing, directed him to answer questions from the committee, and warned him he may be held in contempt of Congress if he continued to refuse to answer.
Paul also argued that Fauci waived his right to claim Fifth Amendment privileges due to his opening testimony on the issue under inquiry in the investigation, in which he condemned the committee and the investigation.
During last week’s hearing, Fauci justified his decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment by arguing that Paul was obsessed with prosecuting him and “any reasonable person” would come to the same conclusion.
Democrats who opposed the contempt resolution also argued that Fauci had a well-founded fear of self-incrimination given public efforts by republicans, including Paul, to prosecute him.
During the hearing, Democrats introduced — and lost — several motions attempting to block the vote.
“Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution,” Paul said in opening statements. “All he had to do was tell the truth. More than 100 times though, he refused.”
Paul underscored that the vote was unrelated to Fauci’s opinions, policies or public statements during the pandemic. “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.”
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Biden’s pardon, issued in January 2025 and retroactive to Jan. 1, 2014, covers “any offenses” Fauci committed during that period, including in his former capacities as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, member of the White House COVID-19 Response Team, and chief medical adviser to Biden.
Legal experts are divided on whether Fauci was eligible to plead the Fifth in light of that pardon, The New York Times reported.
The pardon does not protect Fauci from state-level prosecutions, according to The Associated Press.
Three states are issuing subpoenas to Fauci, alleging that he profited from the recommendations he made during the COVID-19 pandemic, NBC News reported Wednesday.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said they would investigate awards, grants, professional opportunities and other financial gains to determine if Fauci broke any state laws.
Uthmeier cited information contained in Fauci’s personal diary entries, which Paul released in advance of last week’s hearing.
The Senate committee’s decision goes to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington, D.C., which will decide whether to open an investigation or prosecute Fauci for contempt.
Previous contempt resolutions have gone through the full Senate.
Related articles in The Defender
- Congress Asked Fauci at Least 111 Questions — Fauci Refused to Answer at Least 111 Times
- ‘You Funded This’: Sen. Rand Paul Exposes Fauci’s Role in Funding Research That Created COVID Pandemic
- Biden Grants Fauci a ‘Preemptive Pardon.’ Could He Still Face Legal Challenges?
- Rand Paul Issues Subpoena Forcing Fauci to Testify Under Oath
- ‘I Am the Most Famous’: Fauci Basked in Media Spotlight, Newly Released Diaries Show
- Fauci Treated for Pulmonary Infarction Months After Getting COVID Vaccine, Diaries Show
- Smoking Gun? Documents Suggest Fauci Knew COVID Was Created in Wuhan Lab, and mRNA Vaccines Wouldn’t Work
- ‘Fauci Wants the Money’: Emails Suggest Fauci Illegally Used Government Position to Amass Wealth
