Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) might have just discovered a way of sending Anthony Fauci to prison for at least a brief period, if Paul follows through on the threat he made at a Wednesday Senate hearing.
After years of hearing senators threaten to hold someone in contempt of Congress without actually following through on enforcing consequences, my hopes are not extremely high, but you never know; there’s always a first time for everything. Maybe Rand Paul really will convince enough of his fellow senators to vote to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress as we draw near to the midterms. We should all contact the senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and urge them to hold Fauci accountable for his despicable behavior during the July 29 hearing, following on his years of perjury and corruption.
🚨 BREAKING: Rand Paul announces the committee will be voting to hold Dr. Fauci in CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS after Fauci invokes the fifth amendment over 80 times
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) July 29, 2026
This carries up to a YEAR of prison time.
Paul argues that Fauci does NOT have a fifth amendment right against… pic.twitter.com/WWtPoBkdR1
One of the key takeaways from the hearing is that Fauci pleaded the Fifth Amendment like a broken record, and sometimes tried to have his lawyer answer for him in defiance of the rules until Paul had security escort the attorney out. But a presidential pardon such as the one Joe Biden (or whoever was running the autopen that day) gave to Fauci usually precludes the right to plead the Fifth. Fauci wants to have it both ways, and he can’t.
Related: Rand Paul Orders Fauci’s Lawyer Removed As Hearing Grows Chaotic
FindLaw explains the following:
Contempt of Congress is the legal offense of disobeying or disrespecting the authority of the U.S. legislative branch through actions like refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas, disrupting proceedings, or obstructing investigations.
This federal offense typically arises when individuals fail to respond to legally binding orders from congressional committees during their oversight and lawmaking functions.
Penalties include criminal prosecution with up to one year in jail and $100,000 in fines.
That’s not quite on the level of penalty we might wish for a man who single-handedly wrecked our economy, altered the 2020 election campaign season, and impacted millions of lives for the worse, but at this point, I’d settle for any level of fines and imprisonment for Fauci. The former NIAID director has become the ultimate illustration of how wealthy and titled oligarchs now can usually commit any crime and get away with it. That’s extremely unjust and dangerous for a republic.
In November 2021, Dr. Evil — I mean, Fauci confided in his journal logs his terror of infection whenever he was in a crowd because the vaccines didn’t prevent transmission of the virus. In 2024, he repeatedly assured Congress under oath that the COVID vaccines were “highly effective.” Likewise, in February 2020 he had estimated the virus had less than a one percent fatality rate, though soon after he testified under oath that the rate was higher.
In 2024, Fauci claimed while testifying to Congress the six-foot distancing lockdown rule “had little to do with me.” He admitted that the rule “just appeared.” Yet throughout 2020 he aggressively demanded enforced social distancing and as late as November of that year was saying that even those who were vaccinated needed to do the social distancing. You understand my point, which is that Fauci has lied under oath multiple times and clearly is hiding a great deal of corruption.
Senate Republicans should have held Fauci in contempt of Congress a long time ago.
