Fox’s Turley Warns It’s a ‘Murky Area’ For Rand Paul to Try to Hold Fauci In Contempt of Congress

Fox News contributor and legal analyst Jonathan Turley warned Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is getting into a “murky area” with his threat to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.

Turley joined Fox News’ Harris Faulkner on Wednesday following a fiery hearing with Fauci where he invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege more than 100 times, refusing to answer questions on the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdown measures, his actions as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and more.

Paul wrapped up the hearing by announcing a vote was being scheduled for next week to hold Fauci in contempt. According to Paul, Fauci’s Fifth Amendment answers were “unsupported” because he gave an opening statement and because of his presidential pardon.

Turley, an attorney and legal analyst, argued Paul framed his final questions well because he asked Fauci about a period before he was pardoned.

He said:

Well, Harris, this is a bit of a murky question with regard to the impact of a presidential pardon. His attorneys are probably on good ground that the courts are likely to adopt an expansive view of the pardon in terms of its protection but also allow him to avoid any further culpability by invoking the privilege, that the pardon would not extinguish that ability.

But really the tough moment for him came at the end when Senator Paul crafted a question that said, I’m asking you this question within the limits of the period of your pardon. That was a very important framing because he is saying, I’m not asking you to say anything after the pardon where he could obviously claim privilege. I’m talking about the period before which you were pardoned.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig also weighed in over on his network about Fauci invoking the Fifth Amendment, saying he’s “probably within his rights.”

Turley added that Paul’s final question “will present this in the clearest way to the court. Now it was also raised whether he might have waived his privilege because he made a long statement, a relatively long statement before the invocation. That’s also a type of murky area.”

Turley believes ultimately the legal questions present a grey area that will need “have to be resolved in the courts.”

Watch above via Fox News.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!