Fauci on 'solid legal ground' in face of prosecution threat, lawyer says

A lawyer for Anthony Fauci insists his client is on "solid legal ground" after Fauci was threatened with prosecution for refusing to answer questions during a combative congressional hearing.

Fauci, the ex-White House chief medical adviser, appeared on Wednesday before a US Senate committee investigating his handling of the Covid pandemic.

He invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination during testimony more than 100 times, angering Republicans.

Committee chairman Senator Rand Paul suggested Fauci could face contempt-of-Congress proceedings as a result. But Fauci's lawyer said his client was on safe footing, adding: "Rand Paul may be a doctor, but he is not a lawyer."

Paul has long accused Fauci of trying to cover up the origin of Covid, and of funding research at a lab in Wuhan in China, where some theories say the pandemic began. Fauci denies any wrongdoing.

Discussing Fauci's refusal to answer questions on Wednesday, Paul told CBS News: "I think there is a very real chance that he could be prosecuted for that."

It remains unclear whether Fauci could face any charges. He was given a pre-emptive pardon by Joe Biden at the end of his presidency, but Paul suggested that the scope of that pardon could be tested legally.

Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases was being grilled by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which is led by Paul.

During the session, Fauci repeatedly told the panel he was invoking the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution under the advice of his lawyers.

Invoking the Fifth Amendment in itself is not a crime, and is routinely used by defendants in criminal investigations at every level of the US judicial system.

For example, President Donald Trump invoked it repeatedly during a deposition for a civil case against the Trump Organization in New York back in 2022, before he returned to the White House.

Paul, a Kentucky senator, said the committee would vote next week on holding Fauci in criminal contempt of Congress.

If approved, the resolution would go to the Senate floor, according to CBS, the BBC's US partner. But it would need 60 votes to pass - a long shot since that would require Democrats to side with Republicans.

If the resolution was passed through the Senate, it would be referred to the top prosecutor for the District of Columbia for possible prosecution.

Before leaving office, President Joe Biden issued a pre-emptive pardon to Fauci covering his actions between 2014-25.

But Fauci could still face charges for anything after that date, including in his actions towards the Senate committee.

Paul acknowledged that the issue of Fauci's pardon, and whether it imparted him immunity, was "another legal question that the courts may have to decide upon".

Republicans on the committee have suggested that a US Supreme Court decision from 1896 provides a legal precedent. That decision compelled a witness to provide testimony in a case because their pardon had immunised them from prosecution.

Fauci's lawyer David Schertler said in an email to CBS: "We are completely confident that Dr Fauci has a valid Fifth Amendment privilege here and is on solid legal ground in asserting it."

Another lingering question is whether Fauci could theoretically be prosecuted in a legal setting in which Biden's pardon does not apply.

Presidential pardons only cover federal offences, not state-level cases. Florida's top prosecutor said on Wednesday he would investigate Fauci.

But the state's attorney general, James Uthmeier, provided no details about what crimes he believed Fauci might have committed.

Paul has repeatedly argued that Covid probably leaked from China's Wuhan Institute of Virology - a theory that the CIA backed last year.

In the hearing, the senator suggested that while Fauci had said publicly that Covid originated naturally, his diaries indicated he privately believed the virus originated in a medical lab.

Republicans asked Fauci about shifting health guidance, which changed during the pandemic as health officials learned more about the disease. Fauci has previously defended his policy positions.

But several Democrats came to Fauci's defence, including Senator Maggie Hassan, who said the hearing was "designed to entrap" him.

President Trump, meanwhile, took to social media to call Fauci "crazy".

"I said from the beginning that the Virus came from the Wuhan Laboratory in China. Fauci strongly disagreed, always trying to protect China," he said.

The World Health Organization said last year the natural-origin theory - the virus spilling over from animals to people - was the "best supported" idea from available evidence, but that until more information emerges, the matter is "inconclusive".

Fauci has faced death threats during and after the coronavirus pandemic. Trump last year removed his security protection.

The former top health official was one of the most trusted members of the US government during its response to the pandemic as scientists were trying to learn about the virus as quickly as possible.

He was not always at loggerheads with Trump. In 2021, Trump awarded Fauci a presidential commendation for his work on the US Covid vaccine project, known as Operation Warp Speed.