WASHINGTON — A U.S. Senate committee is set to vote Thursday on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing last week focused on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the Republican committee chairman, has said that constitutional protection did not apply since Fauci last year received a pardon from president Joe Biden and thus did not have to worry about the threat of prosecution. But Fauci, in a statement issued before the hearing, said he had good reason to fear the possibility of criminal charges given what he said was Paul’s determination “to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote.” The pardon from Biden covered acts from 2014 through the January 2025 day it was issued but does not shield Fauci from state-level prosecutions or from investigations into any testimony that he did give that lawmakers thought was false. The Republican-led panel is set to vote Thursday morning on whether to refer Fauci to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, which would make a decision on whether or not to investigate or potentially attempt to prosecute the doctor for contempt. Paul, who has previously sent referrals on Fauci on his own, acknowledged Wednesday that contempt resolutions have often gone through the full Senate but said he did not “want to waste time” moving the matter to a vote of the full Senate, where it would be unlikely to muster the required 60 votes needed to advance. “We still might come to the floor,” he said, “but at this point, the first thing we will do is we will send it over as a recommendation from our committee, if it passes.” No matter what happens, the episode raises fresh and complicated questions about lawmakers’ ability to compel testimony from previously pardoned witnesses — and the outcome could resonate beyond Fauci given the possibility that Trump may also grant clemency to his own aides before leaving the White House. ___ Eric Tucker, The Associated Press Associated Press writer Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed to this report.
