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The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 8-5 Thursday to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, formally referring his case to the Department of Justice for prosecution. Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called the vote after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times during a July 30 hearing — refusing to answer a single substantive question about his role in funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, the origins of COVID-19, and the catastrophic lockdown policies he championed.
The contempt resolution bypasses a full Senate floor vote and refers the matter directly to the DOJ. Under 2 U.S.C. § 192, contempt of Congress carries up to a $100,000 fine and one year in prison, though prosecution remains discretionary. Legal challenges are expected, with Fauci's attorneys likely to revisit arguments around his blanket pre-emptive pardon issued by President Biden — a pardon Paul and other Republicans argue eliminates the Fifth Amendment privilege entirely.
"Seeking the truth is not a witch hunt," Paul said before the vote. "Accountability is not vengeance. Accountability is what stands between the American people and a repeat of the mistakes and the very real consequences of the past."
Democrats on the committee voted unanimously to protect Fauci. Committee ranking member Sen. Gary Peters called the investigation "one-sided from the beginning," claiming information had been "selectively released." Paul fired back, calling Peters' objections "a cop-out lie," and noting that Democrats had never engaged with evidence voluntarily provided during the investigation.
The contempt vote comes as the investigation has expanded far beyond what many expected. Senate investigators subpoenaed Fauci's iPhone — and the device has now been transferred from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Senate. A separate subcommittee chaired by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) obtained Fauci's personal journals last week, which contradict his public statements on natural virus origins. Together, the phone and journals could expose private communications Fauci had with key figures in the COVID narrative — including emails and texts he deleted or never disclosed through normal FOIA channels.
At the July 30 hearing, Fauci opened his testimony by accusing Paul of an "unhinged obsession" — then refused to answer questions on gain-of-function research funding, the lab-leak evidence he privately acknowledged while publicly pushing a natural-origin narrative, school closures, lockdown decisions, and financial awards improperly solicited using federal resources. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) confronted Fauci directly: "You don't have any rights under the Fifth Amendment because you've been pardoned, as you very well know. This isn't about the Constitution. This is about contempt — contempt for this body and contempt for the American people."
The American people have waited over four years for answers. Millions lost businesses, children lost years of education, and some paid with their lives — all justified by policies Fauci designed, advocated, and then refused to defend under oath. The Biden pardon was always about preventing exactly this moment. Whether the DOJ acts or not, the contempt vote makes something clear: official Washington no longer has the power to make the COVID accountability question disappear.
