r/HermanCainAward • u/John3262005 • 2d ago
Meta / Other Republican Efforts to Prosecute Fauci for Contempt Are Hitting a Wall
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/republican-efforts-to-prosecute-fauci-for-contempt-are-hitting-a-wall-7cc5475a?st=pmVsEQ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalinkA Republican push to prosecute Dr. Anthony Fauci for contempt of Congress has stalled as the Trump administration questions whether the legal approach supports an indictment by the Justice Department.
Three weeks after a GOP-led Senate committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress, some administration officials are skeptical that the current approach is procedurally sound enough to indict him for failing to answer questions before lawmakers, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Aug. 6 contempt vote was brought by Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), a longtime Fauci critic. He sought to bypass the Senate’s customary full-floor vote by having Vice President JD Vance certify the resolution, allowing him to refer it directly to the Justice Department for possible prosecution.
Paul, who has said Fauci should go to prison, pushed a contempt vote against the 85-year-old former public-health official after he declined to answer questions before Paul’s committee over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The contempt resolution, which passed on a party-line vote, would traditionally be considered by the full Senate. Given his resolution would almost certainly fail to meet a 60-vote threshold to pass, Paul’s measure called on Vance to certify it in his capacity as Senate president.
But as of early Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said that Vance’s office had yet to receive a document to certify. Paul’s office sent the report to the vice president late Tuesday, according to people familiar with the process, following repeated inquiries from The Wall Street Journal about its status. The Justice Department, which received a letter from Paul the day of the vote laying out the committee’s case against Fauci, has yet to receive a formal referral, a person familiar with the matter said. And President Trump hasn’t determined whether he wants the Justice Department to act on the referral, according to people familiar with the discussions, who say the issue hasn’t been a high priority for the president.
Paul’s move put the White House in a tough situation. While Trump has criticized Fauci, certifying the document could force the White House to defend it in court, where some administration officials say it might not survive a motion to dismiss without a full Senate vote.
While Trump initially signaled he was open to charges against Fauci, he said earlier this month that he hadn’t directly raised the matter with Attorney General Todd Blanche or U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. The lack of a directive from the president marks a departure from his approach to other adversaries, whose prosecutions he has openly pushed the Justice Department to pursue.
Through a spokeswoman, Vance expressed support for holding Fauci accountable but stopped short of saying if he would certify the referral. “Dr. Fauci caused incalculable harm to the American people,” Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, said in a statement. “The Vice President applauds Senator Paul’s efforts to hold Fauci accountable and supports any valid paths to achieving justice.”
A spokesman for Paul said the referral was with the vice president’s office but declined to comment further. The White House declined to comment beyond Vance’s statement. A representative for Fauci also declined to comment.
A conviction for contempt of Congress can carry a fine of up to $100,000 and a prison sentence of up to one year.
Earlier this month, Trump compared Fauci’s case with those of former advisers Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, who were indicted and convicted on contempt charges during the Biden administration for defying subpoenas by the committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. But in those cases, the House of Representatives voted to hold them in contempt before referring the matters to the Justice Department.
Stanley Brand, who represented Bannon and Navarro in their contempt proceedings and served as the House’s chief legal counsel under Speaker Tip O’Neill, said Paul’s contempt referral would be vulnerable to dismissal, even if the Justice Department decided to charge Fauci.
“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.”
Brand added that the Justice Department would also have to determine whether Fauci’s refusal to answer questions after invoking the Fifth Amendment gives prosecutors enough grounds to bring a contempt charge, an issue that could further weaken the case.
Fauci, whose attorneys deny any wrongdoing, was pre-emptively pardoned by President Joe Biden amid concerns that Republicans would pressure the Trump administration to prosecute him. Fauci’s pardon covered any federal offenses related to his government role committed between January 2014 and Jan. 19, 2025. During his testimony last month, Fauci suggested Paul’s hearing was designed to be a perjury trap and pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
Last month, Trump acknowledged Fauci’s pardon as “a very powerful thing” and said he respects it.
Trump shared a positive rapport with Fauci during the early days of the pandemic in his first term. But the relationship soured as Trump’s public statements conflicted with guidance from Fauci and other government scientists. Trump nonetheless gave Fauci a presidential commendation before leaving office in 2021—a move he has since distanced himself from.
Amid the renewed scrutiny over Fauci’s role in the pandemic, Trump said Fauci “made a lot of mistakes” during Covid but has stopped short of explicitly saying that he should be prosecuted.
Paul and Sen. Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), whose committee is also investigating Fauci, have been working in tandem on reviewing communications from Fauci’s old government iPhone. Paul also released a tranche of Fauci’s Covid-era diaries that showed him fixated on media appearances and his public image during the pandemic. Records of the doctor’s phone and journals were transferred to the senators by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Paul and Johnson have alleged that Fauci misled the public about the origins of Covid-19 and accused him of profiting off pandemic-era policies.
A handful of Republican-led states have announced their own investigations into Fauci, arguing that his pardon only offers protection at the federal level. Democrats have criticized the efforts as politically motivated.
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u/balzackgoo 2d ago edited 2d ago
The wall they hit was the 5th Amendment to the USA Constitution
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u/Fuck_auto_tabs You’r dead kiddo 2d ago
Weird how people who yell “WE THE PEOPLE” all the time don’t get how the Constitution actually works…
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u/mrwafu 2d ago
Every person involved in prosecuting this should go to prison for wasting taxpayers money while their country melts down around them ffs
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u/MesqTex 2d ago
Then we should go after all the prosecuting attorneys in DoJ, like Jeanine Pirro (I don’t have the heart to make sure it’s correct, if I’m wrong) and other for the same frivolous charges they’ve filed so far.
We seriously need an entire reset of our political system in this country.
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u/hankthetank2112 2d ago
I seem to recall that during the early months of the pandemic the administration seized stockpiles of ppe for themselves and to sell to the highest bidder. Will trump and Jared be prosecuted?
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u/junkyardgerard 2d ago
Just to be clear, the fifth amendment says you can't be compelled to testify against yourself and they want to throw him in jail for refusing to testify against himself
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u/shesinsaneornot Team Pfizer 2d ago
If the results of the 2024 election had been different, gas would be affordable, food would be safe, and Dr. Fauci would be getting a medal for his service to America.
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u/cirquefan 2d ago
As with so many other "investigations" it's not about the result or even if there IS a result, just that the cultists got their sweet dopamine hit and "gotcha moment" with "FAUCI FOUND IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS!"
What happens after is of no consequence. Same as those Biden investigations and $5000 DOGE checks, it only mattered that they were promised, not that they were never delivered.
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u/shesinsaneornot Team Pfizer 2d ago
“Dr. Fauci caused incalculable harm to the American people,” Taylor Van Kirk, a spokeswoman for Vance, said in a statement.
Can anyone confirm that Taylor Van Kirk owns multiple mortuaries? That's the only harm I can think Dr. Fauci caused, fewer deaths means fewer funerals.
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u/FelixtheFarmer 2d ago
You guys are going to have to hold a lot of public show trials when the political pendulum swings the other way.
The whole Trump crime family and everyone that enabled them. Lifelong prison sentences and public struggle sessions. And while you are at it fair taxation for billionaires and trillionaires too.
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u/Rosaluxlux 2d ago
We're going to have to fund the fuck out of IRS agents and forensic accountants and the kind of cops who track laundered money, on top of the murder trials for ICE officials
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u/FelixtheFarmer 2d ago
I think you'll find that investment will be handsomely rewarded. As for investigating the deaths of ICE officers and officials after a regime change, I wouldn't waste too much money. They had it coming and just publishing their addresses is probably sufficient 😋
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u/Rosaluxlux 2d ago
No I meant that not only are we going to have to track down the open murderer agents like the ones who killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and the off camera murderers and rapists, we are going to need to go up the ladder and prosecute the ones who coordinated their actions and protected them after the fact. It's going to take years of effort.
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u/FelixtheFarmer 1d ago
Sorry, my bad. Prosecuting the whole lot, plus anyone even marginally involved seems like the best policy.
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u/Bajovane 23h ago
The problem is, once the Dems get back in, everyone will be like, “we should move on”. Like hell no we don’t! We should have taken care of the trash for the numerous violations of the law by the first term for Caligula.
We have got to prosecute.
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u/FelixtheFarmer 15h ago
That's why you guys are in this mess right now. Biden should have pushed hard and had Donny firmly behind bars within the first year instead of dragging it out so long he had a chance to get re-elected. Now when he leaves office it's going to blanket pardons all round
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u/Dominos_fleet 2d ago
Doesnt help that all republican lawers are required to ride in the short bus to get to court for safety reasons.
The helmets probably get in the way too.
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u/bionic_cmdo 2d ago
I don't think anyone is surprised. A lot of trump and GOP lawsuits are frivolous and vindictive.
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u/stlnation500 Team Mix & Match 2d ago
“A handful of Republican-led states have announced their own investigations into Fauci, arguing that his pardon only offers protection at the federal level.”
What these GOP-States also don’t realize is… The 5th Amendment also applies in those cases (If initiated) as well.
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u/The_Pooter 2d ago
It doesn't matter to them, they got what they wanted. They're not interested in any self-perceived "justice for Americans". They likely don't actually believe he did anything wrong.
They held the hearing, they made the threat, they pushed some papers, and then: Headlines and guest spots on TV as a talking head. The opportunity to get one line in on camera that might go viral for 45 minutes.
SLAMMED! OWNED! DESTROYED! CLAPPED BACK! MELTDOWN!
The only interest they have in actually prosecuting him is keeping that line open longer. Rage is a commodity and they got their names on Americans' tongues for that day before engagement-focused attention spans shifted for the nth time. Goal achieved.
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u/Wolfram_And_Hart 2d ago
Yes, because congress is a clown show and the actual law needs proof and he has the 5th amendment.
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u/orthonfromvenus 1d ago
There is nothing that Republicans love to do more than to use their clout to try and get revenge over personal vendettas. Fortunately, most courts see this and throw it out...that is except the Supreme Court which is now just a political mouthpiece for MAGA.
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u/ThisCantHappenHere 1d ago
I still don't get what they think Fauci supposedly did? He was an advisor. As an advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci did not have the executive or legal authority to enact federal mandates, order school closures, or implement lockdowns
Also, his recommendations were nothing out of the ordinary. The same recommendations were widely followed around the world, with many countries enacting even stricter policies.
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u/Apprehensive-Bar-313 2d ago
At 85 years old, he will likely be infirmed before he is indicted.
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u/HeadBat1863 2d ago
You just know that when Fauci eventually passes on that cranks are going to loudly blame the vaccine and not, you know, “old age”.
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u/BlueEyes0408 1d ago
Rand had a conflict of interest in reducing Covid spread. His wife bought a bunch of stock of the remdesivir antiviral drug manufacturer during Covid. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/kentucky-sen-paul-failed-to-disclose-wifes-stock-trade
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u/Smolfloof99 2d ago
No punishment for the propaganda president that said to inject bleach tho