Dr. Anthony Fauci apparently discovered a new favorite phrase during his Senate testimony this week, and boy did he get his money's worth out of it. The former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination over 100 times during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. That's roughly once every 30 seconds if you're keeping score at home.
Now Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky says a contempt resolution could skip the full Senate entirely and land right on the doorstep of the Department of Justice, as Trending Politics reported. Paul told Fox News after the hearing that because the measure is technically a resolution and not legislation, it doesn't need a presidential signature or House approval. It could simply go from committee straight to federal prosecutors.
"It's actually a law. It's a resolution," Paul explained, which is the kind of clarification that really makes you grateful for the Senate. The Kentucky senator expressed confidence that his committee will pass the measure, at which point they plan to ship it off to the DOJ like a package nobody asked for.
This isn't Paul's first rodeo when it comes to trying to get Fauci charged with something. He revealed that he previously sent two separate letters requesting criminal prosecution, alleging that Fauci destroyed records and lied before Congress. Those referrals went to the Biden administration's Justice Department, which apparently filed them under "things we'll get to never." Paul says he has also forwarded evidence to the Trump DOJ on two occasions.
Fauci showed up under subpoena for the hearing, which focused on pandemic response and coronavirus origins. Before anyone could even ask a question, he delivered an opening statement accusing Republicans of trying to build a criminal case rather than conducting genuine oversight. Then, on advice from his legal team, he proceeded to answer virtually nothing of substance.
The hearing got extra spicy when Paul had one of Fauci's attorneys physically removed after the lawyer tried speaking without being recognized by the committee chair. Nothing says "productive government proceeding" quite like ejecting someone from the room.
Democrats on the committee rushed to Fauci's defense, arguing the whole thing was politically motivated theater and that he had perfectly valid constitutional reasons to stay silent, especially given all the prosecution talk swirling around him. They accused Republicans of reaching their conclusions before the hearing even started.
Paul recently dropped over 1,100 pages of Fauci's pandemic era diaries, which he claims raise serious questions about how COVID-19 was handled. Fauci has pushed back on those allegations, maintaining his diary entries line up perfectly with what he said publicly and denying any wrongdoing.
The committee chairman announced a contempt vote is expected next week. If approved, lawmakers will decide whether to pursue the direct referral route Paul described, potentially putting the whole matter in the hands of federal prosecutors. Stay tuned for what promises to be another totally calm and uneventful chapter in American governance.
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