US Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt over Covid hearing

A US Senate committee has voted to hold former top health official Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he declined to answer questions during a hearing on his handling of the COVID‑19 pandemic. The vote split along party lines, meaning the committee will refer the matter to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, though it remains unclear whether the department will act. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self‑incrimination more than 100 times during his testimony last week, drawing the ire of Republican lawmakers. Former President Joe Biden granted Fauci a pre‑emptive pardon on his final day in office in 2025, shielding him from federal prosecution for conduct occurring between 2014 and 2025. The pardon does not bar potential contempt charges or any state or local actions that fall outside its scope. "The seat directed Anthony Fauci to answer. He refused," Kentucky Republican Rand Paul said up of the vote. "That is what we are voting connected contiguous — not his opinions, not his policies, not thing he said from the podium six years ago." "We are voting connected whether a witnesser who has received the payment of a national pardon tin beryllium ordered by this committee to reply questions and past defy that bid without consequence," he added.