The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted Thursday morning to hold former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, and the former White House medical advisor has only himself to blame. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced the resolution on Tuesday.
Fauci spent last month’s hearing on his role in the COVID-19 pandemic response invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times, refusing to answer questions from Republicans and Democrats alike. However, because of the blanket pardon Joe Biden gave him, he essentially had no Fifth Amendment right.
Anthony Fauci is fully protected by a sweeping pardon, immune from prosecution, and he still refuses to comply with a lawful subpoena. That's the very definition of contempt for the American people.
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) August 4, 2026
On Thursday, the HSGAC will vote to hold him in contempt.
As expected, the vote broke along party lines, with every Republican on the committee backing the contempt charge.
Paul had already promised Fauci would face "repercussions" for stonewalling the committee, and he built the contempt resolution to move fast. It skips the usual full Senate floor vote entirely, where Democrats would most certainly have blocked it. Instead, Paul is sending the referral straight to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
“Contempt of Congress is the legal offense of disobeying or disrespecting the authority of the U.S. legislative branch through actions like refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas, disrupting proceedings, or obstructing investigations,” explains FindLaw. “This federal offense typically arises when individuals fail to respond to legally binding orders from congressional committees during their oversight and lawmaking functions. Penalties include criminal prosecution with up to one year in jail and $100,000 in fines.”
Paul is also hoping for clarity on the pardon former President Joe Biden gave Fauci on his way out of office, and whether it actually shielded him from having to answer questions at all.
"It's a good legal discussion, and we will make those legal points to DOJ in sending the referral over," Paul told Fox News Digital ahead of the hearing.
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Paul has spent years accusing Fauci of funding dangerous gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology believed to be tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The evidence keeps piling up, too.
The Department of Health and Human Services turned over a copy of Fauci's government cellphone from the pandemic era to the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), giving Senate Republican investigators a fresh trove of evidence to sort through. That subcommittee, which operates under Paul's panel, had already collected more than 1,000 pages of Fauci's personal diary before the hearing took place. Whether Johnson or Paul can actually access the data on the phone remains unclear.
The House isn't finished with Fauci, either. Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) said his committee plans more questioning, and he's not accepting the Fifth Amendment plea as the last word.
"If former President Biden's blanket autopen pardon is valid, then Dr. Fauci has no right to refuse to answer questions," Comer said, adding that his committee will be "asking Dr. Fauci whether he stands by his previous testimony" once lawmakers finish reviewing what the diary reveals.
Democrats on the committee tried repeatedly to table the contempt motion Thursday, pushing to hear from Fauci's legal team first. It didn't work. The referral now heads to the Justice Department, which gets to decide whether Fauci's pardon holds up as the shield he's counting on.
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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