Senate Committee to Vote on Holding Fauci in Contempt of Congress

WASHINGTON — A senate committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions during a hearing last week.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, will meet at 8:30 a.m. Thursday to consider the contempt measure.

In a statement released Tuesday, Paul criticized Fauci's refusal to answer questions despite appearing under subpoena.

“Dr. Fauci appeared under subpoena and invoked the Fifth Amendment to refuse answering questions," Paul said. "During the hearing, I ruled that the Fifth Amendment did not apply because of the pardon, and that Fauci had waived any remaining privilege by giving opening testimony. I ordered him to answer and warned him about contempt, yet he still refused. That is obstruction of a congressional investigation."

Fauci led the country's COVID-19 response, and many now believe he lied about the origin of the virus. Paul has repeatedly called for Fauci to be investigated and prosecuted. 

Last Wednesday, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times during a hearing on the origins and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Though former President Joe Biden issued Fauci a pardon on his final day in office, if it were found Fauci lied under oath, it could have opened the door for perjury charges.

Some have speculated that’s why Fauci chose not to answer any questions last week.

The proceedings followed the release last week of Fauci’s personal diaries, which detailed his private thoughts on the origin of the COVID virus.

The diaries were released by Paul after they were retrieved from government computer servers.

Though Fauci has long stated he believed the virus jumped from animals to humans, he privately speculated the virus may have, in fact, been leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology — where coronaviruses were being studied and modified.

Now that we’re more than six years from the start of the pandemic, many Americans believe the virus leaked from the lab and that Fauci helped cover it up since his agency helped fund the research.