Following a hearing last week, during which Fauci repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, lawmakers on the Senate Homeland Security Committee debated the contempt resolution, voting 8-5 in favor.
"Dr. Fauci had a well-founded fear, based on facts, that he was in jeopardy of prosecution for perjury.
In fact, the chairman and others on the committee have said the quiet part out loud. They've shouted it,"
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal
argued ahead of the vote.
Paul countered that the infectious disease expert would have been better served by answering the committee's questions.
"Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution.
All he had to do was tell the truth. More than 100 times, though, he refused. The chair ruled that Dr. Fauci's assertion of the Fifth Amendment privilege was unsupported in light of the pardon and the testimony he offered in his opening statement," the Kentucky senator said.
Paul is a proponent of the lab leak hypothesis and contends Fauci engaged in a cover-up of his alleged involvement in gain-of-function research with coronaviruses in Wuhan, China — charges Fauci has denied.
The senator says he intends to deliver the contempt resolution directly to the Justice Department for potential prosecution.
In a Team Kentucky briefing Thursday, Gov. Andy Beshear said he disagreed with the contempt resolution against Fauci, saying the former White House chief medical advisor "did his best and the person who put him in that position was Donald Trump."
"Did Fauci always get it right? No. But it's really hard to get it right with a virus that none of us have ever seen before," Beshear added. "And this attempt to rewrite history is something."