WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dr. Anthony Fauci declined a request Friday to voluntarily testify before a second Republican-led Senate panel, with his attorney arguing that another appearance would amount to political harassment following an already contentious hearing last month.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sought Fauci’s testimony as part of a separate inquiry into the federal COVID-19 response and vaccine safety. Fauci’s attorney wrote that compelling another appearance after his July 29 testimony would “impermissibly harass or degrade Dr. Fauci for political purposes.”
At that earlier hearing, Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 100 times while Republican senators questioned him about pandemic policies, virus origins and federal research funding. The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee subsequently voted along party lines to hold him in contempt.
Committee Chairman Rand Paul has argued that Fauci’s Fifth Amendment claims were invalid because former President Joe Biden granted him a preemptive pardon covering his government service through January 2025. Fauci’s attorneys counter that the pardon does not eliminate every potential legal risk, particularly given Paul’s repeated public calls for Fauci’s prosecution.
Paul referred the contempt matter to the Justice Department, which has acknowledged receiving it. However, legal experts have questioned whether the referral has force without approval from the full Senate.
The dispute keeps Fauci at the center of a renewed Republican effort to investigate the government’s pandemic response, years after he retired from federal service.
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