Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress
Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
The committee's party-line vote of 8-5 came after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination and declined to answer questions at a hearing last week about his role in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins.
A contempt resolution would normally now head to the full Senate, where it would require 60 votes. It is unlikely the Fauci resolution would receive enough support in the full Senate to pass.
But committee chairman Sen. Rand Paul told reporters he is opting instead to immediately send it to the Department of Justice in the hopes they'll take action.
A Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement "We have received the document, we are reviewing it and will work with the Senate accordingly."
Paul said Fauci could not plead the Fifth Amendment given he was preemptively pardoned by President Joe Biden out of fear of political prosecution.
"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 ahead of the vote.
David Schertler, legal counsel for Fauci, called Thursday's vote "a crude political stunt intended to punish Dr. Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights."
"The Senate should reject Senator Paul's meritless and politically-motivated contempt resolution," Schertler said in a statement. "For years, Senator Paul has proclaimed to anyone who would listen that Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and put in prison. Dr. Fauci has committed no crime -- and Senator Paul knows it."
Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee attempted several times to table the contempt resolution but were unsuccessful.
Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, the committee's ranking member, criticized the vote and the "damaging precedent" it sets, saying this "could harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregards constitutional protections long recognized by the U.S. Senate."
"This resolution will not provide the committee with any additional information, or compel Dr. Fauci to provide answers to our inquiries. Criminal contempt is punitive; it does not compel a witness to answer questions or produce the documents we'd all like to see," Peters said.
Peters also condemned Paul's suggestion of referring the contempt resolution directly to the Department of Justice after the vote, saying "that would be even more dangerous and widely unprecedented move."
