WASHINGTON — A Republican-led U.S. Senate committee voted on Thursday to hold former top infectious disease official Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during testimony last week, escalating a long-running dispute over the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the contempt resolution by an 8-5 party-line vote, according to the committee and multiple media reports. Committee Chairman Rand Paul said the matter would be referred to the U.S. Department of Justice for possible prosecution.
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appeared before the panel on July 29 and declined to answer more than 100 questions, invoking his constitutional protection against self-incrimination. Paul argued that Fauci could not validly rely on the Fifth Amendment because former President Joe Biden granted him a broad presidential pardon covering potential federal offenses committed between 2014 and January 2025.
Fauci said during the hearing that he was following the advice of his attorneys and maintained he feared his testimony could be used against him. He also criticized what he described as efforts to target him personally over his handling of the pandemic.
The contempt referral does not itself constitute criminal charges. Any prosecution would depend on action by the Justice Department, which had not announced a decision as of Thursday. The vote is expected to test legal questions surrounding the interaction between presidential pardons, Fifth Amendment protections and Congress's authority to compel testimony.
