US Senate panel votes to hold top Covid expert Fauci in contempt

AFP | Washington

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Republican-led US Senate committee yesterday voted to hold the country's former top infectious diseases official Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, in an escalation of efforts to blame him for potential Covid-19 pandemic missteps.

On the advice of his lawyers, Fauci last week had invoked his constitutional right to stay silent to prevent self-incrimination under antagonistic questioning from Republican senators, as they probed him over unsubstantiated claims that the origins of the pandemic were covered up.

The party-line vote advances the extraordinary effort to prosecute the 85-year-old career government scientist, who spent decades as the nation's top expert in infectious diseases.

It stems from an initiative by Republican Senator Rand Paul, who had subpoenaed the now-retired Fauci to testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is sworn in during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee hearing on Capitol Hill (file photo).

Prior to the hearing, Paul released thousands of pages of the immunologist's personal diary.

Fauci indicated his lawyers believed Paul intended to entrap him in a slip-up that could result in perjury charges, so Fauci opted to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to answer.

Paul, the committee's chairman, has signaled he intends to send the panel's recommendation straight to the Justice Department, which can decide whether to take the case.

Contempt resolutions generally go through the full Senate, and bypassing that route would bring fresh scrutiny on accusations that President Donald Trump's administration aims to persecute its perceived political foes.

Democrats on the panel voiced their disdain over the vote, with Senator Gary Peters accusing Paul of a "rushed investigation."

He said the vote could "harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregards constitutional protections long recognized by the US Senate, all without making a reliable case that there is a legal basis for holding Dr Fauci in contempt."