Panel to Vote on Fauci Contempt Charge 08/06 06:15

   A 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.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A 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.