Senate Panel Set to Vote on Contempt Referral for Anthony Fauci
Rand Paul leads committee vote to bypass full Senate and refer Anthony Fauci to federal prosecutors.
A Republican-led Senate committee will vote Thursday morning on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution, turning a high-profile inquiry into his COVID-19 pandemic response into a direct legal clash over presidential pardons and constitutional rights.
The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs is taking the step after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 100 times during a hearing last week.
Committee Chairman Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, argues that Fauci cannot claim Fifth Amendment protections because President Joe Biden issued him a broad executive pardon last year. The pardon covers federal acts from 2014 through January 2025, which Paul contends eliminates any risk of federal legal exposure for his past conduct.
To bypass the likelihood of a stall in the full chamber—where contempt resolutions face a 60-vote threshold to advance—Paul plans to send the referral straight from the committee to federal prosecutors.
Paul said Wednesday that he did not “want to waste time” taking the matter to the full Senate floor. “We still might come to the floor,” Paul said, “but at this point, the first thing we will do is we will send it over as a recommendation from our committee, if it passes.”
Fauci pushed back in a statement issued prior to his appearance, asserting that the risk of criminal charges remains acute due to Paul’s personal campaign against him. Fauci said Paul was intent “to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote.”
While Biden’s pardon protects Fauci from federal prosecution for past actions covered under the 2014 to January 2025 timeline, it does not immunize him against potential state-level prosecutions. Nor does it protect him against potential criminal charges if lawmakers allege he provided false testimony during current congressional proceedings.
If the panel approves the measure Thursday morning, the decision on whether to open a formal investigation or prosecute Fauci for criminal contempt will rest with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington.
