Fauci Refuses Second Senate Panel After Contempt Vote
Fauci Refuses Second Senate Panel After Contempt Vote
The News
Dr. Anthony Fauci declined a request Friday to appear voluntarily before a second Senate panel, the Associated Press reported — a week after Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted along party lines to hold him in contempt of Congress.
The contempt vote followed a July 29 hearing at which the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 100 times.
Fauci has not been charged with or convicted of anything. The referral now sits with the Justice Department.
Timeline
Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee under subpoena from Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky. He invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, declining to answer questions about the government's pandemic response and other subjects. Paul repeatedly told Fauci's attorney, David Schertler, that he was not recognized to speak, then directed security to remove him from the hearing room after he continued to interject.
The committee voted 8-5, along party lines, to approve a contempt resolution.
Rather than seek a vote of the full Senate, Paul sent the recommendation directly to the Justice Department — an unusual procedural move. The department confirmed receiving the referral and said it is reviewing it.
Fauci declined a request to appear voluntarily before a second Senate panel. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, had requested a transcribed interview with Fauci and several other former federal health officials as part of a separate investigation into the pandemic response, The National Desk reported.
Reactions
Paul and other Republicans argue Fauci cannot hide behind the Fifth Amendment because former President Joe Biden pardoned him before leaving office. That pardon covers potential federal offenses tied to his government service from 2014 through January 2025.
Democrats on the committee opposed the contempt resolution, arguing Congress should be cautious about punishing a witness for asserting a constitutional protection. Ranking Democrat Gary Peters warned the move could change how future witnesses respond to congressional subpoenas.
Schertler condemned the committee's action as an attempt to punish his client for exercising his constitutional rights. Fauci has pointed to Paul's repeated public criticism of him as evidence he believes the investigation is aimed at building a criminal case against him.
What's Next
The next consequential decision belongs to the Justice Department, which is not required to bring a case. If prosecutors do pursue criminal contempt charges, Fauci would get to challenge the government's legal theory in federal court — including whether his Fifth Amendment invocation was valid and whether Paul's referral followed the procedures needed to support a prosecution.
Johnson's separate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations inquiry continues, as do other congressional probes of the pandemic response.
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The constitutional question at the center of the fight is unsettled. In Brown v. Walker, the Supreme Court held that a witness who has received sufficient immunity — or an applicable pardon — generally cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment for offenses he can no longer be prosecuted for, and Congress's Constitution Annotated says much the same.
But a presidential pardon covers federal offenses, not state crimes, and authorities in Florida, Louisiana and West Virginia have pursued their own inquiries involving Fauci — raising the question of whether answering Senate questions could expose him to jeopardy outside the pardon's reach. The pardon also does not cover conduct after January 2025. No court has ruled on the question in Fauci's case.
The dispute follows Paul's release of more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's pandemic-era journals.
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