Senate panel holds Fauci in contempt over refusal to answer COVID-19 questions

A Senate panel voted Thursday to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt for repeatedly declining to answer questions last week from lawmakers investigating the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said he will refer the contempt resolution to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution.

• That could set up a legal clash, since former President Biden preemptively pardoned Fauci before leaving office.

The big picture: The 8-5 vote by the Senate Homeland Security Committee is just one of the ways Republicans are turning up the heat on Fauci.

• Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said a subcommittee has obtained the phone Fauci used during the pandemic — providing a potential new flood of revelations after the committee already released his diary.

Driving the news: Paul said Fauci had no reason to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions from the Senate committee last week, since Biden had already pardoned him for actions during the time when he led the nation's infectious disease efforts.

• "Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution. All he had to do was tell the truth," Paul said before the vote.
• Democrats countered that the GOP was trying to put the 85-year-old former top infectious diseases expert in legal jeopardy, by forcing him to make statements that could open new lines of investigation for the committee.
• Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said the vote will make it harder to conduct future oversight, because witnesses "will point to this vote as a justification for refusing to appear at all."

At last week's hearing, Fauci said Paul had an "unhinged obsession with me," and was trying to get him to say something that could advance public pledges to put him behind bars.

• Republicans accused him of trying to evade questions about studies the government funded in China, as well as "gain of function" research they've frequently invoked to support the theory the pandemic originated with a lab leak.

What we're watching: Former Trump advisor Steve Bannon has suggested the Fauci inquiry could resonate politically and help turn out the Republican base, by suggesting government scientists are still captive to pharmaceutical and other special interests.