Senate panel moves toward Fauci contempt vote after 5th plea
What's next: If Republicans approve the measure, the Justice Department would decide whether to pursue criminal contempt charges.
A Republican-led Senate committee is set to vote Thursday on whether to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after the former top U.S. infectious-disease official invoked the Fifth Amendment at a hearing last week. Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, refused to answer questions from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, saying through an opening statement that his lawyers advised him not to testify further. Chairman Rand Paul has been pressing Fauci over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic and recently released more than 1,000 pages from Fauci's private diaries. Fauci received a preemptive pardon from President Joe Biden covering conduct from 2014 through January 2025, but that would not shield him from exposure tied to current testimony.