Senate Committee Votes to Hold Fauci in Contempt Over Covid Hearing

Sun Sep 06 2026 05:18:13 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

A U.S. Senate committee has voted to hold former coronavirus chief Anthony Fauci in contempt after he refused to answer questions at a Covid‑19 review hearing.

The committee’s 11‑to‑1 vote marks a sharp partisan split over Fauci’s refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena, sending the matter to the Justice Department for potential prosecution. Fauci’s defense was his right against self‑incrimination, invoked more than 100 times, as senator Rand Paul accused him of hiding the virus’s origins. While President Biden’s pardon covered federal crimes up to 2025, Fauci may still face contempt charges or state‑level prosecution for his testimony. The vote shows the deep rift in Washington over pandemic accountability and the limits of a federal pardon when witnesses challenge congressional orders.

Senate Committee Votes to Hold Fauci in Contempt Over Covid Hearing

After a partisan vote, a U.S. Senate committee officially found former coronavirus chief Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions during its review of the nation’s response to the pandemic.

The 11‑to‑1 decision—split along party lines—means the committee will forward the matter to the Justice Department for possible prosecution, though it is still unclear whether federal authorities will pursue the case. Fauci, whose testimony was tossed into headlines, invoked the Fifth Amendment in more than a hundred instances, telling senators that he was being “put behind bars” by a push from Republican Senator Rand Paul.

Paul has long accused Fauci of hiding the virus’s origins and alleged that a research lab in Wuhan, China was involved in a laboratory‑leak scenario instead of a zoonotic animal source. Fauci, meanwhile, counters that such doubts are unfounded and has maintained a record of no wrongdoing.

President Joe Biden, on his final day in office in 2025, issued a pre‑emptive pardon for Fauci that shields him from federal prosecution for acts between 2014 and 2025. Under that pardon, however, Fauci can still face contempt charges or state and local actions that lie outside the federal shield.

In a dramatic opening statement before the vote, Senator Paul said, “The chair directed Anthony Fauci to answer. He refused. We are voting on whether a witness who has received a federal pardon can be commanded to answer questions and then defy that command without consequence.”

Fauci responded that he was being targeted to produce admissions that could vindicate the accusations and that the hearing was a “tool” to get him behind bars. The case highlights the growing divide over how the pandemic response is assessed and the limits of presidential authority to shield key public health figures from congressional scrutiny.