After Anthony Fauci, MD, declined to answer questions during a congressional committee hearing led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) yesterday, Paul told reporters he plans to push ahead with holding the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director in contempt of Congress.
In the tense Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee session, Fauci repeatedly cited the Fifth Amendment in response to questions and allegations that he tried to conceal the true origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paul said the committee will vote on the matter next week, while some Republican members argue Fauci shouldn’t have been able to plead the Fifth, claiming the preemptive pardon he received from former President Joe Biden granted him immunity from prosecution.
“We believe that with his… immunity from criminal liability, that he didn’t need to hide behind the Fifth Amendment and that maybe the Fifth Amendment doesn’t attach when you have a pardon in place... That’ll be a legal question… and then there’s a question of whether or not the Department of Justice will take that up.”
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