Senate Panel Votes to Hold Fauci in Contempt
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- The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-7 along party lines Thursday to hold Fauci in contempt after he declined to answer questions at a hearing led by Sen. Rand Paul, invoking his Fifth Amendment right
- The full Senate must vote next, where the contempt resolution faces a filibuster; if passed, the DOJ decides whether to prosecute, carrying penalties of up to $100,000 in fines and 1-12 months in prison
- Fauci's preemptive pardon from President Biden covers him only through Jan. 19, 2025, leaving him exposed to perjury prosecution if he lied to Congress during the hearing
- Sen. Ron Johnson's committee obtained a copy of Fauci's phone (reported Wednesday by the Wall Street Journal) and is requesting transcribed interviews from Fauci and others, with subpoenas threatened for non-compliance
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier opened his own investigation into Fauci, joining parallel congressional and state-level efforts
- House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer said his panel wants to question Fauci about Covid-era journal entries released by Paul's committee — and any House contempt vote would bypass the Senate filibuster
Why it matters: The contempt vote formalizes a multi-front legal pursuit of Fauci by congressional Republicans and Trump-aligned officials, with the Senate filibuster as the main procedural obstacle to prosecution. Even without a successful contempt referral, the parallel tracks — Johnson's phone records, Florida's AG probe, and House Oversight's inquiry — keep Fauci exposed past the Biden pardon's Jan. 19, 2025 cutoff, while a DOJ prosecution would require overcoming the Lois Lerner precedent, where contempt was found but DOJ declined to act.
