It’s been four years since Dr. Anthony Fauci retired from public service. Four years since he stepped away from the podium, the daily briefings, and the relentless scrutiny that came with being the face of America’s COVID-19 response. And yet, here we are.
On Thursday, a U.S. Senate committee voted 8-7 along party lines to hold the 85-year-old infectious disease expert in contempt of Congress. The reason? He repeatedly refused to answer questions about his handling of the pandemic—invoking his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent more than 100 times during a hearing last week.
The vote is the sharpest escalation yet in a years-long Republican campaign to re-litigate the pandemic and hold accountable the officials who ran the U.S. response. And at the centre of it all is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, Fauci’s longtime antagonist, who has pursued a relentless investigation to prove his conviction that Fauci orchestrated a cover-up of the coronavirus’ origins.
What Actually Happened?
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the contempt referral on a party-line vote. Democrats introduced five motions to delay the vote—all of which failed. One motion, from the committee’s top Democrat Senator Gary Peters, sought to have Paul commit not to bypass a full Senate vote by referring the matter directly to the Justice Department. It didn’t pass.
Now, the matter moves to the full Senate, which will decide whether to refer Fauci to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
Fauci’s Defence: ‘A Personal Vendetta’
Fauci’s attorney, David Schertler, didn’t mince words. He called the vote “a crude political stunt intended to punish Dr. Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights” and urged the Senate to reject what he described as a “meritless and politically motivated contempt resolution”.
Schertler went further: “For years, Senator Paul has proclaimed to anyone who would listen that Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and put in prison. Dr. Fauci has committed no crime—and Senator Paul knows it”. He described the resolution as a continuation of a “personal vendetta”.
Fauci himself told the panel last week that Paul had summoned him only to force testimony backing the senator’s repeated public pledges to see him imprisoned.
The Pardon That Complicates Everything
Here’s where it gets interesting.
Former President Joe Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci in January 2025 to guard against “unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions” related to COVID or his role in the response. The pardon, however, does not cover subsequent conduct.
Paul has argued that Fauci has no valid Fifth Amendment claim because the pardon nullifies it and because Fauci waived any remaining protection by testifying. Fauci’s team clearly disagrees.
The Bigger Picture
This isn’t just about Fauci. It’s about a broader Republican and Trump administration campaign to re-litigate the pandemic. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has upended federal health policy around distrust of pandemic-era science, casting his overhaul of the health agencies as a reckoning with what the administration calls the “coercive mandates” of the COVID-19 response.
Both Paul and Kennedy have written books criticising Fauci. Both have made him a symbol of everything they believe went wrong during the pandemic.
And Fauci, who led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, became the face of the U.S. pandemic response—and a primary target of anger over measures taken against a virus that killed more than 1.1 million Americans. President Donald Trump and many conservatives criticised him over lockdowns, mask and social-distancing guidance, and his promotion of vaccines, which became heavily politicised despite being shown safe and effective.
One More Twist: The iPhone Backup
The Wall Street Journal reported late Wednesday that the committee had obtained a backup copy of Fauci’s iPhone from his tenure as NIAID director, including his period fronting the first Trump administration’s pandemic response in 2020. Senator Ron Johnson, who chairs the committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, told the Journal he had obtained the data.
What’s on that phone? We don’t know yet. But you can bet it’ll be central to whatever comes next.
What Happens Now?
The full Senate will now decide whether to refer Fauci to the Justice Department. If they do, he could face criminal prosecution—though given the preemptive pardon, the legal waters are murky at best.
For now, Fauci remains defiant. His attorney has made it clear they’ll fight every step of the way. And with the 2026 midterm elections looming, this isn’t just a legal battle—it’s a political one.
One thing’s for sure: Dr. Anthony Fauci’s legacy—whatever you think of it—isn’t finished being written just yet.
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