A Senate committee voted Thursday to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after the former infectious disease official declined to answer questions at a hearing on the origins of the Covid pandemic.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the resolution 8-5 along party lines, with all Democrats opposed, CBS News reported. The vote followed a hearing on July 29 at which Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, according to U.S. News.
Committee Chairman Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said the vote was narrowly about Fauci's refusal to comply with a directive to answer, not about his pandemic-era decisions. NPR reported that Paul told the committee the question was whether a witness who has received a federal pardon can be ordered to answer and defy that order without consequence.
Contempt resolutions are typically referred to the full Senate. Paul said he would send this one directly to the Justice Department instead, and a congressional aide told CBS News the referral was transmitted Thursday. A Senate floor vote would almost certainly fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance, with Republicans holding 53 seats and Democrats broadly defending Fauci.
Democrats on the committee sought to table the vote, warning it would damage the panel's oversight function, NPR reported.
Fauci's attorney, David Schertler, called the resolution a political stunt meant to punish his client for exercising his constitutional rights, and described it as a continuation of a personal campaign by Paul, according to CBS News.
Fauci received a federal pardon in 2025. NPR reported that the pardon would not shield him from prosecution over conduct after that date, including statements made in current congressional testimony.
Whether to pursue the case now rests with federal prosecutors.