The Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer questions before the committee last week.
Fauci declined to answer more than 100 questions during the nearly three-hour hearing, repeatedly invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination. The vote authorizes sending the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Under federal law, the U.S. attorney is supposed to bring the matter before a grand jury.
Typically, contempt votes go to the full Senate before referring to the Department of Justice. The vote on Thursday bypassed going to the full Senate, sending the contempt referral directly to the Department of Justice.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution,” Fauci repeatedly said.
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The committee is led by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who has frequently clashed with Fauci.
The Fifth Amendment, part of the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights, protects people from being compelled to incriminate themselves. Congress has at times referred witnesses to the Department of Justice for possible false-statement charges based on testimony given during hearings.
On Jan. 20, 2025, the final day of the Biden administration, President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Fauci, though Fauci had never been charged with a crime.
"Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution. All he had to do was tell the truth. More than 100 times though, he refused. The chair ruled that Dr. Fauci's assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege was unsupported in light of the pardon and the testimony he offered in his opening statement," Paul said Thursday.
Democrats on the committee chided Paul for bringing the vote.
"If this committee now seeks to punish a witness for asserting their constitutionally protected Fifth Amendment rights, future witnesses will argue that appearing before Congress exposes them to punishment regardless of whether they comply with the subpoena and invoke a constitutional protection," said Sen. Gary Peters, a Michigan Democrat.
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Fauci was a leading figure in the U.S. response to COVID-19 under both President Donald Trump and Biden. He served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 through 2022. He also served as Biden’s chief medical adviser from 2021 through 2022.
Could Fauci face jail time?
There have been several recent examples of people convicted of contempt of Congress.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol held Trump allies Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro in contempt of Congress. Both were later sentenced to four months in prison.
