Senate panel holds Fauci in contempt for not answering Covid questions

A Senate committee Thursday voted along party lines to hold Dr Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing on his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, setting up a referral to the department of justice for potential investigation over whether the country’s long-time top infectious disease official properly exercised his constitutional rights.The vote approving the contempt resolution came a week after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times when he appeared before the senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs.Republican Senator Rand Paul, the committee chairman who pressed for the contempt finding, said that constitutional protection did not apply because Fauci last year received a pardon from former President Joe Biden and thus did not have to worry about the threat of prosecution. Fauci and Democrats who unanimously opposed the contempt resolution said he had a well-founded fear of self-incrimination given a public desire by Republicans to seek his prosecution.