Wisenberg: Senate Will Lose Fauci Contempt Fight
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- Solomon Wisenberg, a Fox News legal contributor, told "Fox & Friends" Thursday that the Senate would lose if it pushed the Department of Justice to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
- Wisenberg called the outcome "really not going to be a close question," adding that while the Senate could "harass" Fauci, the Fifth Amendment invocation is a "valid implication" whether or not one agrees with it.
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he would press for a contempt vote after Fauci took the Fifth at a Wednesday Senate hearing.
- Paul said the committee contempt vote "will happen next week" and floated the theory that Fauci's presidential pardon meant the Fifth Amendment "doesn't attach" when immunity from criminal liability is already in place.
- Paul suggested he might bypass the full Senate floor vote and send the contempt referral directly to the Department of Justice, which would then decide whether to bring charges.
Why it matters: Paul's committee contempt vote is set for next week, but Wisenberg's read suggests the referral would die at DOJ regardless. Paul's novel theory — that a presidential pardon strips Fifth Amendment protections — faces long odds in court and could expose the Senate's contempt referral to an easy legal defeat.
