Sen. Rand Paul released a resolution accusing Anthony Fauci of unlawfully refusing to testify under subpoena, arguing that a presidential pardon and Fauci’s opening statement eliminated his basis for invoking the Fifth Amendment.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on a resolution recommending that federal prosecutors charge Dr. Anthony Fauci with contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions during a July 29 hearing.
The resolution released by committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., argues that Fauci could not properly rely on the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination because the conduct under examination occurred during a period covered by a preemptive pardon issued by outgoing President Joe Biden in 2025.
Fauci Contempt Resolution by yourNEWS Media
It also maintains that Fauci waived any remaining privilege when he delivered an opening statement before declining to respond to every subsequent question.
Fauci led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. During his appearance before the committee, he read a prepared statement and then repeatedly said he was invoking the Fifth Amendment.
Paul told Fauci during the hearing that the privilege did not apply because of the pardon and because Fauci had chosen to provide opening testimony. Fauci nevertheless continued refusing to answer.
The proposed resolution says Fauci violated a federal law prohibiting a person subpoenaed by Congress from “refus[ing] to answer any question pertinent to the question under inquiry.”
It recommends that the matter be referred to federal prosecutors for criminal charges.
“Dr. Fauci appeared under subpoena and invoked the Fifth Amendment to refuse answering questions. During the hearing, I ruled that the Fifth Amendment did not apply because of the pardon, and that Fauci had waived any remaining privilege by giving opening testimony. I ordered him to answer and warned him about contempt, yet he still refused,” Paul said in a statement. “That is obstruction of a congressional investigation. The Committee will act accordingly.”
The committee had initially planned to consider the contempt matter Wednesday but moved the vote to Thursday morning.
Fauci’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Paul opened the July 29 hearing by saying the public deserved explanations for apparent differences between Fauci’s private diary entries and his public statements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul recently released the diary after obtaining it from the Department of Health and Human Services.
According to Paul, Fauci wrote that he persuaded several officials to close schools during the pandemic while publicly maintaining that he had not been involved in decisions to shut them down.
The diary also contained doubts about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines that were not reflected in Fauci’s public comments, Paul said.
“Your own words demonstrate that you understood the influence you exercised,” Paul told him.
Fauci used his opening statement to accuse Paul of pursuing a politically motivated attempt to expose him to criminal prosecution.
He said he had testified before Congress many times but believed Paul’s “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary” demonstrated an effort to induce testimony that could later be used against him.
“Therefore, although it pains me to do so because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government, and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions,” Fauci said.
Republicans asked most of the questions during the hearing, while Democratic senators repeatedly defended Fauci and criticized the proceeding.
“We are here in an attempt to entrap you because you had a distinguished career trying to put Americans public health first,” Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said.
Thursday’s vote will determine whether the committee formally concludes that Fauci defied a congressional subpoena and sends its recommendation for prosecution to federal authorities.
Original article
Comments