Rand Paul ejects Fauci's attorney: Can he face contempt despite Biden pardon?

Senator Rand Paul, Chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, escorted out the lawyer of Dr Anthony Fauci as the two parties engaged in back and forth during the hearing. Paul claimed that Fauci's attorney, David Schertler, was not authorised to sit at the witness table, but he did so. Dr Anthony Fauci took the Fifth Amendment repeatedly at least 100 times, as reported by the New York Post.

“You will respect these proceedings. You were told not to sit at the table. You insist on sitting at the table, and we told you you would not be recognised. You are not invited here for testimony, sir. You are being disruptive. Would you behave this way in a courtroom? No, because the judge would put you in jail. I can’t do that today. But I can have you escorted from the premises,” Paul told Schertler. Paul has called for a vote next week on contempt of Congress despite Biden's pardon.

Fauci to face ‘repercussions’ for pleading the Fifth?

Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who had a pardon from former US President Joe Biden during the final hours of his administration, for all of his official conduct from 2014 to 2025. But Kentucky Senator Rand Paul explicitly warned Dr Anthony Fauci that he would face legal and congressional repercussions for refusing to answer questions. Fauci pleaded the Fifth, which is the constitutional right against anything that might incriminate him. But the Fifth Amendment is not absolute; as Paul argued, Fauci had a pardon, so he cannot claim fear of prosecution for questions about the time the pardon covers. So in this case, he could be held in civil contempt. Republicans could get a court order against Fauci requiring him to testify and sanctioning him with fines and incarceration for refusing to do so.