美国参议员兰德·保罗主持的共和党领导委员会准备对安东尼·福奇提起藐视国会指控，并将其转交司法部[1]。福奇在上周的听证会上援引第五修正案超过100次，拒绝回答关于其新冠疫情处理方式的数十个问题[1]。保罗计划于周四进行投票[1]，该委员会还准备绕过全参议院投票程序，直接将藐视指控转交司法部[1]。
关于援引第五修正案的合法性，两方观点存在分歧。共和党人坚持认为，拜登去年颁发的特赦——覆盖期间为2014年至2025年1月——使福奇无权获得第五修正案的保护[1]。然而，法律专家认为考虑到州起诉威胁和特赦有效性问题，福奇援引该修正案存在合理理由[1]。
在听证会前，福奇表示保罗对他有"明显的痴迷"，要求对他进行起诉[1]。保罗则在社交媒体X上发布数十条与福奇相关的帖文，暗示他早前作过伪证[1]。
Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a recent congressional hearing, declining to answer dozens of questions about his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. The move has triggered a legal dispute and prompted Senator Rand Paul's Republican-led committee to prepare a contempt of Congress vote against Fauci, with plans to refer the matter directly to the Department of Justice rather than pursue a full Senate vote [1].
Paul, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, scheduled the contempt vote for Thursday [1]. Republicans argue that a presidential pardon issued by the Biden administration last year—which covered the period from 2014 through January 2025—should preclude Fauci from claiming Fifth Amendment protection [1]. However, legal experts contend that Fauci has legitimate grounds to invoke the amendment given ongoing state-level legal threats and questions about the pardon's scope [1]. Before the hearing, Fauci characterized Paul as having an "obvious obsession" with prosecuting him [1], while Paul posted dozens of social media messages suggesting Fauci had committed perjury in earlier testimony [1].