MatzavFauci Rejects Second Senate Appearance as Congressional Clash Escalates
Dr. Anthony Fauci has declined a request to testify before a second Senate panel, further intensifying his dispute with congressional Republicans after a Senate committee voted last week to hold the longtime infectious disease expert in contempt of Congress.
In a letter sent Friday to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Fauci’s attorney rejected the invitation for a voluntary appearance before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The attorney argued that requiring Fauci to testify again following his contentious July 29 hearing would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
During that July hearing, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination approximately 100 times while declining to answer lawmakers’ questions regarding his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
His repeated reliance on the Fifth Amendment led the Senate Homeland Security Committee to vote along party lines on Aug. 6 to hold him in contempt of Congress, setting the stage for a referral to the Department of Justice to determine whether his refusal to testify constitutes contempt.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who led the effort to pursue the contempt resolution, argued that Fauci could not properly invoke the Fifth Amendment because President Joe Biden had previously granted him a preemptive pardon. According to Paul, that pardon removed any realistic threat of criminal prosecution.
Paul has been one of Fauci’s most outspoken congressional critics throughout the years, repeatedly accusing him of misleading the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. The July hearing marked the latest in a series of high-profile confrontations between the two, and Paul has repeatedly called for Fauci to face criminal prosecution and imprisonment.
Johnson, who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, is conducting a separate inquiry into Fauci’s role in the federal government’s response to the pandemic, including questions surrounding the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.