Fauci Now in Contempt of Congress. Will DOJ Prosecute?

For years, Sen. Rand Paul and his office have done the investigatory work that the mainstream press simply wouldn’t - to thoroughly examine the available evidence to determine if the man most responsible for deciding COVID protocol during the global pandemic was in any way responsible for the creation of the virus and the outbreak, responsible for covering it up including his complicity, and also promoting false information that in hindsight might have been detrimental to millions.In 2021, Sen. Paul asked Fauci if his National Institutes of Health had ever funded gain-of-function research. Fauci denied. Paul gave him a chance to retract that statement, noting that lying to Congress was a crime. Fauci maintained that he was not lying.He even got aggressive.Rand Paul Review is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Earlier this month, after Paul had amassed even more evidence, Fauci was subpoenaed before the Senate committee where he was asked similar questions. He plead the 5th Amendment 111 times.Why would he refuse to answer when President Joe Biden had already issued him a blanket pardon for any and all potential crimes?That was the basis of the contempt charge.Fauci in Contempt of CongressOn Thursday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee found Fauci in Contempt of Congress by an 8-5 vote along party lines.Committee Chairman Paul said, “Holding a witness in contempt is a serious thing, and it should be rare. But the contempt power exists for precisely this circumstance.”Will the Justice Department Now Prosecute Fauci?After Thursday’s contempt vote, Paul senior adviser Doug Stafford gave a summary of what the next steps should be for Fauci.That would be President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice.Which received the letters to prosecute right after the vote on Thursday.Some reports before the vote indicated a hesitancy by the Trump White House to pursue Fauci, even that he “respects” Biden’s pardon of him, but when asked by a reporter on Thursday, the president said that he might be inclined to prosecute him.Trump began by noting what he saw as the unfair prosecutions of his former team members Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.A reporter asked the president, “Do you think the DOJ should prosecute Dr. Fauci?” Trump replied, “Well, you know, they prosecuted Peter Navarro and they prosecuted Steve Bannon, two very decent people, over something that essentially was never prosecuted before.”Navarro and Bannon were sentenced for failing to comply with congressional subpoenas for questioning over the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill riots.Trump on Prosecuting: ‘Maybe’Trump continued, “And they’re sort of telltale signs of similarity. And they went to jail for a number of months. over something that they — I saw one of the analysts said they used to laugh at it in the Justice Department when something like that was referred. But (former U.S. Attorney General) Merrick Garland prosecuted two very decent people and sent them to jail.” “I wasn’t present,” the president said. “I would have given him a pardon in two seconds. But I wasn’t — it was after I left. They waited until after I left, and then they prosecuted these two people. And they ought to be ashamed of themselves.” Regarding prosecuting Fauci, Trump said, “So when you see that happen, you sort of say, maybe he should.”“What he did is far more serious than a lot of crimes, frankly,” the president added. “But they prosecuted two people where nothing like that has ever taken place before.”Fauci 2021: ‘Senator Paul, I Have Never Lied Before the Congress’It is worth remembering that five years ago Fauci fervently insisted he did not lie and would never lie to Congress.FAUCI: “If anybody is lying here, Senator, it is you.” PAUL: “Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11th where you claimed that the NIH never funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan?” FAUCI: “Senator Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, a