Senate Homeland Security Committee to vote Thursday on holding Dr. Fauci in contempt

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is set to vote Thursday on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions at a hearing last week on the government’s COVID-19 response. Chairman Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said the committee would meet at 8:30 a.m. EDT to consider a contempt resolution against the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director. Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment during the July 29 hearing, citing his right against self-incrimination, according to NPR and ABC News. Republicans on the panel say that refusal obstructed their investigation; Fauci’s allies and outside legal experts have said the dispute centers on whether that constitutional protection still applied. ### Why is the committee voting now? Tuesday, August 4, is when Paul’s office publicly released the contempt resolution and announced the Thursday vote. In a committee statement, Paul said Fauci “appeared under subpoena and invoked the Fifth Amendment to refuse answering questions” and said he had warned Fauci during the hearing that a refusal could lead to contempt. The committee notice said the vote would take place Thursday morning. (nprillinois.org) NPR reported on August 6 that Republicans on the committee were moving ahead after Fauci declined to answer questions about the federal pandemic response. C-SPAN also listed the meeting as a Senate Homeland Security Committee vote on a resolution holding Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions during the recent hearing. (hsgac.senate.gov) ### What happened at Fauci’s hearing last week? July 29 was the date of the hearing at which Fauci repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment before the committee. ABC News reported that Republican senators vowed at that hearing to pursue contempt after Fauci declined to answer a series of questions about his role in the pandemic response and COVID-related decisions. (nprillinois.org) Anthony Fauci, now 85, said in an opening statement cited by NPR that Paul had made criminal accusations against him and that he was invoking the Fifth Amendment because he believed the hearing was designed to “make a criminal referral” against him. NPR said Fauci refused to answer lawmakers’ questions after that statement. (abcnews.com) ### What is Rand Paul arguing? Rand Paul said in the committee statement that Fauci’s Fifth Amendment claim did not apply because of a pardon and because, in Paul’s view, Fauci had waived any remaining privilege by giving opening testimony. Paul said he ordered Fauci to answer and warned him about contempt, but Fauci still refused. “That is obstruction of a congressional investigation,” Paul said in the statement. (nprillinois.org) ABC News and the Associated Press reported that Republicans intend a contempt finding to trigger a referral to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. Those reports said the dispute could test whether Fauci had a valid constitutional basis to refuse dozens of questions. ### Why is the Fifth Amendment at the center of this fight? (hsgac.senate.gov) The Fifth Amendment issue is central because Fauci did not simply decline a few questions; multiple outlets reported that he invoked it repeatedly during the hearing. ABC News said that decision “tees up” a legal debate over whether he could still claim protection against self-incrimination in the circumstances described by Paul and committee Republicans. (abcnews.com) AP, as carried by ABC News and U.S. News, reported that a contempt vote would not itself convict Fauci of anything. It would instead open the door to a Justice Department review of whether his refusal to answer was legally protected. ### What else are Senate investigators doing? (abcnews.com) A Senate subcommittee has also obtained a copy of Fauci’s phone ahead of the vote, according to reporting surfaced Thursday by Yahoo from CNN and referenced in broader coverage this week. The New York Times separately reported, according to the source briefing, that a Senate panel had obtained a copy of Fauci’s cellphone. Those steps are part of the wider Senate investigation running alongside the contempt dispute. (usnews.com) Thursday’s next step is the committee vote itself. If the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approves the resolution, the matter would be referred to the Justice Department, according to AP, ABC News and the committee chairman’s statement. (hsgac.senate.gov) (yahoo.com)