Congress Votes to Hold Fauci in Contempt
The contempt referral goes to Todd Blanche — an acting attorney general fighting a $1,000-a-day contempt case of his own.
Washington hit Anthony Fauci from three directions in twenty-four hours. At 9:15 this morning, Rand Paul’s Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to hold the 85-year-old scientist in contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for prosecution — 8–5, every Republican yes, every Democrat no, two of them by proxy, per The Hill’s count of the roll call. Fauci’s offense: invoking the Fifth Amendment. The night before, Ron Johnson’s investigations subcommittee revealed it holds a copy of Fauci’s government iPhone — handed over by HHS itself, Fox News reported. And Wednesday, the Republican attorneys general of Florida, West Virginia and Louisiana subpoenaed his finances, his book deals and his prize money, records due August 31.
One target. Three fronts. Twenty-four hours.
Narativ covered the hearing that produced today’s vote. Fauci invoked the Fifth 111 times on July 29 while Paul ordered Fauci’s lawyer escorted from the room for trying to explain why. The explanation matters. Paul’s case rests on a theory no court has ever tested: that Joe Biden’s preemptive pardon voided Fauci’s Fifth Amendment protection, because a pardoned man can no longer incriminate himself. Legal experts aren’t buying it: a pardon “doesn’t apply to future conduct,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said, and the threat of state prosecution keeps the Fifth alive regardless. Fauci’s lawyer called the theory unproven and the prosecution vindictive. Security walked him out anyway.
