Rand Paul’s Senate Committee Decides Contempt of Congress Charge for Anthony Fauci

A Senate committee led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted to hold former top health official Anthony Fauci in contempt for repeatedly refusing to answer its questions.

The effort passed on Thursday morning by a vote of 8 to 7, along party lines.

“All he had to do was tell the truth,” Paul said as he opened the vote.

“There will be another pandemic. The time to determine which legislative reforms are necessary to make sure the mistakes of the past are not repeated is now, not later,” Paul added.

At one point, Senator Gary Peters (D-MI) blasted Paul.

“This investigation has been one-sided from the beginning,” Peters said. “The minority has been excluded from witness interviews and full access to committee records and information has been selectively released to support conclusions that the chairman reached years ago.”

Peters and fellow Democrats Maggie Hassan (NH) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) presented motions to table the contempt vote, which were all voted down by an 8-7 vote.

Fauci, 85, was subpoenaed to appear before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs July 29, and gave an opening statement in which he accused Paul, 63, of having an “unhinged obsession” with him.

He went on to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times, and refused to answer any of Paul’s questions alone for roughly 45 minutes.

After the hearing, which focused on the longtime public servant’s decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic and on his personal diaries, Paul declared he would call a vote to hold Fauci in contempt.

The former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was given a preemptive pardon in January 2025 by then President Joe Biden.

Critics slammed Fauci for using the Fifth Amendment, with everyone from podcaster Charlamagne Tha God to NFLers like Aaron Rodgers and Philadelpia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, weighing in.

Legal experts expected the move to fail, with CNN analyst Elie Honig saying Fauci was “probably within his rights” to invoke the Fifth.

Fauci could still be prosecuted at the state level — where some Republicans appeared to salivate at the idea of bringing charges against the doctor.

“If we can’t put him in prison, let’s put him in court every day for the rest of his life, where he where he has to be punished and listened to the death that he caused,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) proclaimed after last week’s hearing.

Paul has hammered Fauci for his role in the Covid-19 pandemic, published Fauci’s diaries and has repeatedly slammed him on social media.

The case will now go to the Department of Justice, who will decide whether to seek criminal charges against Fauci.

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