Why making Anthony Fauci the enemy will harm US public health for years
Katie Miller, an erstwhile Trump administration official and wife of Stephen Miller, once relied on Dr Anthony Fauci to get through Covid. Now, she’s calling for his imprisonment – a reversal that illuminates the politicization of Fauci and of public health writ large, a trend that could have major repercussions for America’s preparedness for future crises.
A US Senate committee voted on Thursday morning to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress after the physician and former public health official invoked his fifth amendment rights during a Senate hearing last week focused on Fauci’s actions during the Covid pandemic. The vote fell along party lines and means the committee will refer the case to the justice department for potential prosecution for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena.
It is unclear whether the department will act on the referral. Fauci, who was a key adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic, invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during last week’s testimony, according to Republicans who pressed for the contempt vote.
The invocation of the worst days of the Covid pandemic come as midterms loom and the administration struggles to address several infectious outbreaks, including cyclosporiasis and Ebola.
Rand Paul, a senator, released contemporaneous notes that Fauci took during his time in public office, which Paul called Fauci’s diary, that reveal the confusion and fear of the time and illuminate the private episodes of a man who became known as America’s doctor.
“By focusing entirely on one human being and by calling him all sorts of names, including ‘evil’, and by calling for him to be jailed, it abdicates Republicans’ own responsibility in the US response to the pandemic, which was under President Trump,” said Gavin Yamey, director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at Duke University. “I think that this is all aimed at riling up the base ahead of the midterms and at washing their hands of any culpability themselves in the mass death event of Covid.”
And it comes after substantial cuts to the public health infrastructure; misinformation has spread at the , and growing outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, cyclosporiasis, Ebola, and more.
“This is an extraordinarily good way to distract people from the very deliberate destruction of the US public health system,” Yamey said.
What did Rand Paul say before the vote?
Paul, who has investigated Fauci for years and whom Fauci accused of having an “unhinged obsession” with him, said ahead of the vote that the committee was acting on Fauci’s refusal to answer questions, not on his views or past policy decisions. “The chair directed Anthony Fauci to answer. He refused,” Paul said. “That is what we are voting on today — not his opinions, not his policies, not anything he said from the podium six years ago. ”
He added that the committee was voting on whether a witness who had received the benefit of a federal pardon could be ordered to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence.
Ahead of the hearing, Paul released what he , in which he described Trump as “rambling”, “crazy”, “desperate”, “bumbling”, “incompetent”, “an idiot”, “a true embarrassment”, “totally nuts” and “truly an obnoxious adolescent”.
that Robert F Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services has also provided a copy of Fauci’s phone to the Republican-led Senate panel. Kennedy had written a conspiratorial book attacking Fauci in 2021 that sold more than a million copies – thanks in part to blurbs from fellow non-scientists Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Alan Dershowitz and Tony Robbins.
What happens after the contempt vote?
The committee’s referral goes to the justice department, but it is not known whether prosecutors will pursue the case. Former President Joe Biden gave Fauci a pre-emptive pardon on his last day in office in 2025, protecting him from federal prosecution for his actions between 2014 and 2025.
Fauci could still face charges for anything after that date, including contempt of Congress. He could also still be subject to state or local charges that are not covered by the pardon.
Scientists and Democrats have rallied behind Fauci, with a group of 155 scientists signing an calling for the government to stop the “vilification and harassment of many American scientists”.
“This is only going to deter other scientific experts from public service,” Gary Peters, a Democratic senator of Michigan, said.
Key Facts
- A US Senate committee voted on Thursday to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.
- The committee will refer the case to the justice department for possible prosecution.
- Fauci invoked the fifth amendment more than 100 times during last week’s hearing, according to Republicans.
- Joe Biden gave Fauci a pre-emptive pardon on his last day in office in 2025.
- Scientists and Democrats warned that the case could deter public service and further politicize public health.
