Paul says Senate panel to vote on holding Fauci in contempt

The Hill ^ | 07/29/26 12:32 PM ET | by Sarah Davis

[RandFan]

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Wednesday he would push to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after the former head of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic response invoked his Fifth Amendment right at a hearing on Capitol Hill.

“That’s a vote that will happen in committee next week. It will be in contempt of Congress,” Paul told reporters after the hearing.

“We believe that with his … immunity from criminal liability, that he didn’t need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment and that maybe the Fifth Amendment doesn’t attach when you have a pardon in place,” he continued. “That’ll be a legal question, but the question on contempt will be voted on, and then there’s a question of whether or not the Department of Justice will take that up.”

The Republican lawmaker has long criticized Fauci’s handling of the health outbreak and called for his arrest, alleging the scientist lied to Congress about funding research projects in China that Paul says contributed to the pandemic’s outbreak.

Paul chronicled these allegations in his 2023 book, “Deception: The Great Cover-Up,” which features Fauci’s face on the front cover.

“I’ve recommended before for his criminal prosecution, and neither the Biden DOJ nor the Trump DOJ have taken it up,” Paul said. “All I can do is recommend prosecution. I can’t initiate prosecution.”

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TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Kentucky
KEYWORDS:

[RandFan]

Should have arrested him on the spot..

[Belteshazzar]

The truth is that Fauci loves this. It may be completely negative about him, but it is attention. This man is truly sick.

[Beowulf9]

Friend of mine lost her husband due to Covid. They met in high school married after. Had children. Now she’s a widow in her late sixties, rather helpless.

Cannot get over losing him.

[iamgalt]

This should have been Paul’s focus instead constantly cutting Trump off at the knees. Countless deaths, Billions of dollars and a stolen election. In the middle of all of it sits that evil little prick Fauci free and rich.

[dljordan]

Yeah but what about Jan 6?

[Sacajaweau]

I’m sure he’s saying....what are they going to do to me...give me community service. No way would they sentence me to prison time. He continued...”Let them have their fun. They’re going no where”.

[catnipman]

just watched these hearings; reminded me of this one:

Crazy Joe Gallow Pleads the Fifth in 1959:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0kob4DGbKBo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kob4DGbKBo

[MCSETots]

And every single Democrat (and possible some Republicans) will vote against it and laugh their asses off when they do.

This hearing was an exercise in pissing up a rope. Fauci can’t be prosecuted for claiming the fifth and all the evidence that they have will fall into the time period that the blanket pardon covers.

Fauci will join the ranks of Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, James Comey, Lois Learner, Eric Holder, et al to have committed hellacious crimes and walk away scot-free . . .

[John S Mosby]

Sergeant at Arms take him into custody at the hearing, to await DOJ indictment on referral from the Senate— all of which is quite Constitutional.

So, DO IT, Mr. curly haired Libertarian wanna be. Do it— do something, take action. You have what you need, besides your TVee timeout lip flapping.
You threw out the lawyer— you could easily have taken Faucista into custody on referral which the Senate could overwhelmingly vote for.... forget “contempt” (see: Eric Holder about this).

[Republican Wildcat]

Fifth Amendment doesn’t attach when you have a pardon in place

There it is - I was wondering when that was going to be brought up. He can't incriminate himself if he has a pardon -and that pardon was all encompassing as a full amnesty from prosecution.

[Red Badger]

Will be interesting as to how the Dems vote.......

[thegagline]

Anyone who treated Fauci’s COVID guidance as gospel was either willfully blind or a useful idiot. The man has a decades-long pattern of bureaucratic self-preservation dressed up as science. Look at the AIDS years: he stonewalled faster access to experimental drugs while patients died, pushed AZT as the miracle when it was toxic and only modestly useful for many, and only opened the door after ACT UP activists publicly called him a murderer and forced the issue. That was not caution. That was institutional arrogance.

The same playbook ran during COVID—flip-flopping on masks, privately taking credit for lockdowns and school closures while publicly hedging, dismissing the lab-leak hypothesis until it became politically inconvenient to keep denying it, and treating dissenting doctors and data as heresy. People who obeyed every edict, enforced the mandates, and mocked the skeptics own the results: closed schools, excess deaths from delayed care, shattered small businesses, and a public health apparatus that lost all credibility. They do not get to claim they were “just following the science.” They followed a man with a proven record of prioritizing control and narrative over patients.

[Fido969]

If he would answer truthfully, he’d have nothing to worry about.

[faithhopecharity]

if indeed Fauci’s has immunity from criminal prosecution then his use of the Fifth Amendment was improper...just a convenient way to avoid testifying....yes, constituting Contempt of Congress

(as I’ve stated previously, I have VERY serious concerns about Rand’s national defense and foreign relations postures, which appear to me to be both totally unrealistic and extremely dangerous for America.....BUT...when Rand is right about something....he’s definitely right....and I am so glad someone with his “hunting dog” instinct is pursuing the COVID shutdown scandal....it is very serious when a government forces citizens to be injected with unproven stuff ...or anything for that matter....we are not the govt’s cattle and we are not here to serve the govt)

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

That's a ridiculous vote - you can't hold the guy in contempt for invoking the FifTh. If they had offered him absolute immunity, then that's a different story. Having been issued a pardon doesn't change that analysis in the slightest.

A pardon is of zero legal effect until it has been filed in court, and it wouldn't shield him from prosecution based on post-pardon conduct anyway. On top of that, a lot of those same Republicans have argued that the Biden pardons should be void because of the Autopen controversy, in which case they are essentially saying that the pardon is worthless. They've handed him the perfect legal justification for invoking the Fifth.

Kind of shows what happens when you run your mouth for political reasons but don't consider the actual impact of what you say. Pushing for contempt now, which is guaranteed to be unsuccessful in the end, will just end up making that scumbag Fauci look like he's won yet again.

I can't stand Fauci, but that doesn't mean there is any legal way to get him.

[FlyingEagle]

Pardon applies to convictions only.

Contempt was obvious.

Get a ruling from the Supremes on the pardon.

Then get a rope.

[Carry_Okie]

Fauci can’t be prosecuted for claiming the fifth and all the evidence that they have will fall into the time period that the blanket pardon covers.

Nonsense. Fauci is (supposedly (that is, if Biden really signed it or had any awareness of the pardon) immune from prosecution for what he did prior to the pardon. He is not immune from prosecution for what he says now. If he answers truthfully about what he did then, he could not be prosecuted for perjury. Therefore, a truthful answer would not be self-incriminating. He therefore MUST answer it or face contempt charges.

[Republican Wildcat]

Pardon applies to convictions only.

No, that's not correct.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

The very Republicans who say he must testify also claim that his pardon is invalid, and there won't be a conclusive decision on that unless/until he is charged and the pardon is formally filed in court. So as of right now, as you basically conceded, it may not even be worth the paper it is printed on.

No chance of any contempt order sticking.

[Republican Wildcat]

Correct.

That’s one of the primary reasons immunity is granted to certain uncooperative witnesses in trials so they can’t claim the 5th to avoid testifying. If you are immune from prosecution, you cannot claim the 5th to avoid testifying. The blanket pardon gave him immunity from prosecution...he cannot claim the 5th for questions covering the events under the pardon...yet that is what he is trying to do.