Senate panel votes 8-7 to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after Fifth Amendment refusal

Committee vote

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted on August 6, 2026, to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. The resolution passed 8 to 7 along party lines, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed. The panel's Republican chair, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, said Fauci should be held in contempt for refusing to answer questions about his role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci, 85, led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years before retiring in 2022 and became the face of the U.S. pandemic response.

The vote followed a hearing on July 29, 2026, where Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination. Paul argued that Fauci had no valid Fifth Amendment claim because former President Joe Biden had preemptively pardoned him in January 2025, covering alleged offenses between 2014 and January 2025, a period that includes Fauci's pandemic response. Paul said the pardon nullified Fauci's protection and that Fauci waived any remaining shield by testifying.

Fauci's defense and Democratic backlash

Fauci told the committee that Paul had summoned him only to force testimony backing the senator's repeated public pledges to see him imprisoned. He accused Paul of having an "unhinged obsession" with him and of releasing his unredacted personal diary aimed at "embarrassing and intimidating me."

Given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me, the only conclusion I can reach is that 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.'

Democrats on the panel uniformly opposed the resolution. Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the ranking Democrat, called it a "rushed investigation" without Democratic participation and warned it would create a "damaging precedent" that would make it harder for any congressional committee to compel witness testimony. Senator Maggie Hassan called the process a "political trap," and Senator Richard Blumenthal compared the hearings to Joseph McCarthy-era attempts to prosecute political enemies. Republicans rejected five Democratic attempts to delay the vote.

Legal path forward

A contempt referral typically requires approval by the full Senate, which would need a 60-vote majority. With 53 Republicans in the Senate, adoption is highly unlikely without Democratic support. Paul has suggested that vote may be unnecessary, telling Fox News he could send the referral directly to the Justice Department with a legal brief.

If the referral proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, run by Trump ally Jeanine Pirro, would review it and decide whether to seek a grand jury indictment. The contempt charge is a misdemeanor under federal law for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena.

Parallel scrutiny

Fauci also faces state-level scrutiny, with Louisiana joining Florida and Alabama in investigating his pandemic conduct. A federal pardon does not preclude state prosecutions. The evening before the contempt vote, it emerged that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had provided a copy of Fauci's pandemic-era phone to a Senate subcommittee chaired by Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Johnson wrote on social media that the device would hopefully address many of the questions Fauci refused to answer at the hearing. Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has suggested the inquiry could resonate politically and help turn out the Republican base by arguing government scientists remain captive to pharmaceutical and other special interests.