Republican senators vote to hold Fauci guilty of contempt of Congress

The US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has voted to hold Anthony Fauci accountable for contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions about his management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The proposal was supported by eight Republicans, while seven Democrats voted against it.

The committee chairman, Republican Senator Rand Paul, announced that he would forward the case to the US Department of Justice.

"We voted by a majority to forward this, so it will be executed today," Pol told reporters, Hina reports.

Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than a hundred times

The vote followed a hearing last week, during which Fauci (85) invoked the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution more than a hundred times, namely the right not to answer questions that could expose him to criminal prosecution.

Fauci retired in 2022, after decades as one of America's leading infectious disease experts and one of the most well-known officials during the pandemic.

Paul argues that Fauci's invocation of the Fifth Amendment is not justified, as former US President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned him in 2025 for actions related to his government service from 2014 to January 2025.

Fauci, however, claims that he still has reason to fear criminal prosecution, because the pardon does not protect him from all possible actions, including possible investigations into new testimony before Congress.

Paul has been accusing Fauci for years of lying to Congress about whether the US National Institutes of Health funded research in Wuhan, and of participating in a cover-up of the origins of Covid-19.

Fauci rejects these accusations and claims that he has testified truthfully before Congress on these issues on multiple occasions.

The committee's decision represents the sharpest escalation yet of Republican attempts to reinvestigate the origins of the pandemic and the accountability of officials who led the US response to Covid-19.

The committee's recommendation will be sent to the federal attorney general's office in Washington, which will decide whether to launch an investigation or seek to prosecute Fauci for contempt of Congress.

It is unclear whether the case will result in indictment. Paul acknowledged that the proposal would have difficulty getting the necessary 60 votes if the full Senate voted on it.

The origin of Covid-19 has still not been definitively determined.