Fauci Refuses Second Senate Appearance After Contempt Vote

Dr. Anthony Fauci is refusing to voluntarily appear before another Senate panel investigating the federal government’s response to COVID-19, just days after Republicans voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sought a private transcribed interview with Fauci as lawmakers continue examining decisions made during the pandemic.

But Fauci’s attorneys rejected the request in an August 14 letter, arguing that the former longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has already testified extensively before Congress and that another appearance would serve no legitimate legislative purpose.

The refusal comes after Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment during a July 29 hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

Fauci declined to answer more than 100 questions during that appearance.

On August 6, Republicans on the committee voted 8 to 5 along party lines to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress. The contempt resolution was subsequently delivered to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.

Fauci’s attorneys, David Schertler and Danny Onorato, said their client stands by his previous testimony and would invoke his Fifth Amendment rights again if compelled to appear before Johnson’s subcommittee.

They also accused Republicans of engaging in a politically motivated campaign against Fauci and argued that another subpoena would amount to harassment.

Johnson isn’t backing down.

“The American people deserve answers to legitimate questions regarding our miserably failed response to COVID-19,” Johnson said. “Some of those questions can only be answered by Dr. Fauci.”

Johnson also pointed to Fauci’s previous statements that he was willing to testify before congressional oversight committees and had “nothing to hide.”

“Apparently, he has a lot to hide,” Johnson said.

The Wisconsin senator said investigators will continue obtaining Fauci’s records and interviewing officials who worked with him while lawmakers consider their next legal move.

“We will explore our legal options before deciding our next steps,” Johnson said.

The escalating showdown comes as Johnson’s subcommittee has obtained a copy of the government-issued iPhone Fauci used during the pandemic.

According to lawmakers, the device contained more than 34,000 text messages and 522 voicemails.

Johnson and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky recently released a batch of messages from January 2021 involving Fauci, then-CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and then-Surgeon General Vivek Murthy discussing COVID vaccination during pregnancy.

In one exchange, Fauci wrote that fever and cytokine responses following a second vaccine dose “theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the 1st trimester.”

Fauci also noted at the time that no safety problems had emerged among more than 10,000 pregnant women who had chosen to receive the vaccine and that animal toxicology studies had produced no warning signs.

Johnson and Paul argue the messages raise additional questions about what federal officials knew and how potential risks were communicated to the American public.

Now, with Fauci refusing another voluntary interview and already facing a Senate contempt resolution, Republicans are weighing what comes next.

Johnson made clear the investigation isn’t over.

Fauci led NIAID from 1984 until his retirement in December 2022 and became one of the most prominent and controversial faces of the federal government’s COVID-19 response.