A Senate committee voted 8-5 to hold Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical officer to the president, in contempt of Congress.
The vote came after a fiery July 29 hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Committee chair Sen. Rand Paul released more than 1,000 pages of the personal diary Fauci kept during the COVID pandemic. Fauci had been subpoenaed by the committee to answer questions about the origins of the pandemic and the government's response. The long-time infectious disease expert declined to answer the committee's questions, citing his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution," committee chair Sen. Rand Paul said before the vote on Thursday, pointing to former President Joe Biden's preemptive pardon of Fauci in January 2025. "All he had to do was tell the truth. More than 100 times, though, he refused."
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In his opening statement on July 29, Fauci said that he had testified before or briefed Senate and House committees "well over 200 times" during his 38-year tenure as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In that role, he steered the U.S. COVID pandemic response alongside both President Donald Trump, then in his first term of office, and President Joe Biden.
"During and after the COVID pandemic, I have appeared multiple times for hearings in the Senate and the House, usually under oath, and sat for several days-long transcribed sworn interviews, answering questions about the very issues that are now the subject of this hearing," Fauci said, adding that he believed Sen. Paul had released his personal diary entries in order to intimidate him.
Paul has said following the vote on Thursday that he'd pass the matter to the Justice Department for further action.
Despite initially working alongside Trump in the first months of the COVID pandemic, Fauci has since become a frequent target of the president and Republican lawmakers. Sen. Paul has repeatedly accused Fauci of covering up the origins of the pandemic, while others criticized his support of lockdowns and shifting public health messaging on masks and immunity.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
