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One week after Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment throughout an hours-long grilling by a Senate committee, the infectious disease expert who advised the United States\u2019 COVID-19 response will face a contempt of Congress vote on Thursday as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., seeks to refer him to the Justice Department for charges.<\/p>\n
Dr. Anthony Fauci faces a contempt vote before the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee Thursday. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
Fauci\u2019s contempt vote is scheduled<\/a> for 8:30 a.m. on Thursday by the Senate\u2019s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, chaired by Paul, who led the committee\u2019s questioning of Fauci last week.<\/p>\n Paul released the text of the committee\u2019s contempt resolution<\/a> Tuesday evening, which alleges Fauci\u2019s use of the Fifth Amendment is \u201cunsupported\u201d because former President Joe Biden pardoned him before leaving office\u2014though some legal experts have argued the threat of state or local prosecution means Fauci is able to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s resolution alleges Fauci \u201cwaived his right to claim the privilege\u201d because he opened his testimony with brief remarks that addressed \u201csubject matter pertinent to the questions under inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n In a post<\/a> on X Tuesday, Paul said Fauci is \u201cfully protected by a sweeping pardon, immune from prosecution, and he still refuses to comply with a lawful subpoena,\u201d calling it the \u201cvery definition of contempt for the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n Fauci\u2019s lawyer David Schertler previously said<\/a> he is \u201ccompletely confident\u201d Fauci was \u201con solid legal ground in asserting\u201d his Fifth Amendment rights, saying Paul \u201cmay be a doctor, but he is not a lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n What Do We Know About The Contempt Vote?<\/p>\n Fauci will first face a contempt of Congress vote within the 15-member Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, which has an eight-member Republican majority. Paul has said he believes the resolution will pass in committee, but suggested he would send the criminal referral straight to the Department of Justice, rather than holding a vote in the full Senate. \u201cWe can debate that, but since it\u2019s not really a law, it doesn’t have an exact procedure,\u201d Paul told Fox News<\/a> of his decision to skip a full Senate vote\u2014which faces a higher bar to pass, as it would require 60 votes. The contempt resolution says the president of the Senate, Vice President J.D. Vance, \u201cshall certify\u201d the resolution and refer the report to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Contempt of Congress is a federal misdemeanor<\/a> that criminalizes a subpoenaed witness who refuses to \u201canswer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry,\u201d punishable with a fine and up to one year in prison. <\/p>\n Was Fauci Permitted To Invoke The Fifth Amendment?<\/p>\n Whether Fauci was able to wield his Fifth Amendment rights to decline to answer questions at last week\u2019s hearing is a subject of debate, as legal experts have generally said he was able to use it\u2014while Paul and other Fauci critics have argued Biden\u2019s pardon of the infectious disease expert precludes him from claiming his Fifth Amendment rights. Biden\u2019s pardon<\/a> of Fauci, which covers any potential federal offenses committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and Jan. 19, 2025, does not cover actions committed after the pardon was issued. But some legal scholars have said Fauci is still under reasonable threat of state or local prosecution, which could give him the right to invoke the Fifth Amendment. \u201cHe was invited into a situation where everyone in the country understood that Rand Paul was trying to set him up for a criminal prosecution,\u201d University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt told the Associated Press<\/a>, saying \u201cone of the smartest things to do\u201d in Fauci\u2019s situation is to say as little as possible. <\/p>\n What Happened At Fauci\u2019s Hearing?<\/p>\n Fauci began the hearing by delivering brief prepared remarks<\/a>, in which he stated his intent to use the Fifth Amendment to decline to answer questions. Fauci accused Paul of an \u201cobvious obsession with calling for my prosecution\u201d and of making \u201crepeated slanderous comments about me,\u201d alleging Paul was using the hearing to \u201cget me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars.\u201d Fauci pleaded the fifth more than 100 times at the hearing. Paul, during the hearing, warned Fauci it is \u201cagainst the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress\u201d and suggested there would be \u201crepercussions\u201d for his refusal to answer questions. During the hearing, Fauci was largely targeted by Republican members of the committee, including Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who asked<\/a>: \u201cWho the f\u2014k do you think you were for doing that?\u201d after telling a story of a woman arrested for not wearing masks at a football game, while Democrats thanked Fauci for his service and defended him.<\/p>\n What Did Fauci\u2019s Diaries Say?<\/p>\n Fauci, at the hearing last week, accused Paul of releasing the diaries with the intent of \u201cembarrassing and intimidating me.\u201d Paul released<\/a> more than 1,000 pages of Fauci\u2019s personal diaries, spanning 2019 to 2022, days before the hearing, largely sparking outrage from right-wing critics who accused Fauci of an obsession with fame and of making contradictory statements between his public comments and private diaries. In several diary entries, Fauci processed his sudden rise to national fame during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, detailing interactions with celebrities and noting merch had been made of him. In May 2020, he wrote the \u201csituation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable,\u201d adding he might be \u201cthe most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable person in the world.\u201d Critics also slammed Fauci over diary entries in which he wrote he encouraged New York City leadership to close schools, despite him saying in a 2022 interview<\/a> he had \u201cnothing to do\u201d with school closures. In other diary entries, Fauci was fiercely critical of President Donald Trump, saying the COVID-19 \u201cpress briefings are a total S\u2014 Show with POTUS rambling,\u201d also describing a March 2020 meeting in which Trump discussed TV ratings \u201cand virtually everything else as I was trying to keep him on track.\u201d<\/p>\n further reading<\/p>\n