Sen. Rand Paul’s effort to pursue a contempt of Congress prosecution against Dr. Anthony Fauci has run into significant legal obstacles, with Trump administration officials reportedly questioning whether the Kentucky Republican’s attempt to send the matter to the Justice Department without a vote of the full Senate can survive a court challenge.
Paul has been seeking criminal consequences for Fauci over his refusal to answer questions concerning his actions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The senator’s committee voted along party lines on Aug. 6 to hold Fauci in contempt after the longtime government health official repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during questioning.
Rather than seek approval from the entire Senate, Paul devised a different route. He wants Vice President JD Vance, acting in his constitutional capacity as president of the Senate, to certify the committee’s contempt resolution and forward it directly to the Justice Department.
According to The Wall Street Journal, however, some officials in the Trump administration have doubts about whether such a referral would be legally valid without the Senate itself first approving the contempt resolution.
Historically, congressional contempt cases are brought before the full House or Senate before being referred to federal prosecutors. Paul faces a political problem with that approach: His resolution is not expected to attract the 60 votes required to defeat a filibuster, leading him to pursue the Vance strategy instead.
Paul’s office forwarded its contempt report to Vance late Tuesday, following repeated inquiries from the Journal regarding the document’s status, according to people familiar with the process. Paul had already sent the Justice Department a letter on Aug. 6 laying out his committee’s allegations, but the department has yet to receive an official contempt referral, the Journal reported.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has reportedly not made a final decision about whether he wants federal prosecutors to proceed against Fauci.
Although Trump has repeatedly criticized Fauci, he said earlier this month that he had not personally discussed possible charges against him with Attorney General Todd Blanche or U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.
Vance has voiced support for efforts to hold Fauci responsible for his conduct, though he has not publicly committed to certifying Paul’s contempt referral.
“Dr. Fauci caused incalculable harm to the American people,” Vance spokeswoman Taylor Van Kirk told the Journal. “The Vice President applauds Senator Paul’s efforts to hold Fauci accountable and supports any valid paths to achieving justice.”
Questions surrounding the legality of Paul’s proposed procedure could become a major problem if prosecutors ultimately bring a case.
Stanley Brand, an attorney who represented Trump advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro in their congressional contempt prosecutions, said bypassing the Senate’s traditional procedures could provide Fauci with strong grounds to seek dismissal.
“There’s just a bevy of cases that say you can’t just go around the Senate rules or the House rules when you put somebody in contempt,” Brand said. “That referral is null and void.”
Bannon and Navarro were both prosecuted by the Biden Justice Department after refusing to comply with subpoenas issued by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Unlike the procedure Paul is proposing, however, the full House voted to approve contempt resolutions in both cases before the matters were forwarded to federal prosecutors.
Fauci, 85, invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination more than 100 times while appearing before Paul’s committee last month. Fauci also suggested that the proceeding had been structured as an attempt to lure him into committing perjury. His attorneys have maintained that he engaged in no wrongdoing.
Adding another complication to any potential prosecution, President Joe Biden issued Fauci a preemptive pardon before leaving office. The pardon covered possible federal crimes arising from Fauci’s government service between January 2014 and Jan. 19, 2025.
A conviction for contempt of Congress carries a possible sentence of as much as one year behind bars, along with a fine of up to $100,000.
{Matzav.com}
