Fauci refuses to answer Senate Covid questions

What happened

Former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci on Wednesday refused to answer questions during a three-hour Senate hearing on the government response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who subpoenaed the scientist to appear, threatened to call a vote on a resolution declaring Fauci in contempt of Congress.

Who said what

Fauci values “legitimate congressional oversight” but Paul has an “obvious obsession” with seeing him prosecuted, the doctor said in his opening remarks. “The sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said. His attorney, David Schertler, lambasted Paul for building his “personal brand” around prosecuting Fauci for “imaginary crimes.”

Paul said he had hoped to hear an “an apology” or that “judgment errors were made” in the pandemic response that Fauci led. “There will be repercussions for your refusal to testify,” he warned. The combative hearing showed that the “rage” over lockdowns, vaccines, and mask mandates is “still simmering below the surface” six years later, Politico said.

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What next?

The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote on Paul’s contempt resolution on Aug. 5.