FIFTH AMENDMENT FAILSAFE: Rand Paul Moves to Hold Fauci in Contempt After 100-Plus Refusals to Answer

Dr. Anthony Fauci pleaded the Fifth more than a hundred times — and Sen. Rand Paul says that’s not going to fly.

Paul, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, is moving to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after the former NIAID director refused to answer questions during last week’s combative hearing, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination well over 100 times.

The committee is set to vote Thursday morning on Paul’s contempt resolution, which argues Fauci defied a subpoena and stonewalled a legitimate congressional investigation.

“Fauci’s Fifth Amendment protections no longer applied,” Paul has argued, pointing to former President Biden’s preemptive pardon of Fauci before leaving office. Paul says Fauci also waived any remaining privilege the moment he delivered opening testimony at the hearing — then clammed up for every question that followed.

Fauci refused to answer anyway. Paul says that amounts to obstruction of a congressional investigation, plain and simple.

It wasn’t a quiet standoff. Fauci opened his testimony by accusing Paul of an “unhinged obsession” with him, then declined to answer nearly every substantive question that came his way, citing fear that any answer could expose him to legal jeopardy and open new lines of inquiry for the committee.

If the committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt, the matter could escalate toward fines or even jail time — a remarkable turn for the man who spent years as the public face of the government’s COVID-19 response.