What does the Senate contempt vote mean for Fauci?

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Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt

Senate committee votes to hold Fauci in contempt

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Anthony Fauci is in quite the mess:

Senate Republicans on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voted to hold former chief White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.

Why?: For refusing to answer their questions at last week’s hearing on the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 111 times and refused to answer a single question.

Fauci argued he was advised to do this because Paul was setting traps to trick him into saying something incriminating.

The vote: Led by Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), Republicans passed 8-7 along party lines. No Democrat voted to hold Fauci in contempt.

Democrats on the committee repeatedly tried to stop the resolution from moving forward but ultimately lost to the Republican majority.

What happens now?: Contempt referrals usually go to the full Senate for a vote, but Paul could instead choose to send it to the Department of Justice (DOJ). Paul has suggested he would skip the full Senate vote, which would need Democrats’ support, and go directly to the DOJ to ask for a prosecution. The DOJ would ultimately decide how to proceed.

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WOULD THE COURTS ALLOW THIS CONTEMPT CASE TO STAND?:

“Many people, including Trump administration officials, and even the president himself, have invoked the Fifth Amendment. But the case is unique, legal scholars say, because of the tension between the reach of a presidential pardon and that of the Fifth Amendment. The potential consequences could be grave for Dr. Fauci,” The New York Times’s Jan Hoffman........

© The Hill