Attorneys for Dr. Anthony Fauci today turned down a request from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., for Fauci to appear before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and answer questions about Covid vaccines.
The request from Johnson, a harsh critic of Fauci, came on July 29, when Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the origins of Covid and the U.S. government’s response. A week later, Republicans on the committee voted to hold Fauci in criminal contempt for declining to answer questions. The DOJ will now decide whether to prosecute Fauci.
“It is notable that your request came literally the same day that Dr. Fauci spent three hours appearing at a hearing regarding the same matters,” Fauci’s attorneys wrote, noting that Johnson attended that hearing and his subcommittee is part of the full committee. “You have already publicly threatened to subpoena Dr. Fauci, even before he has had a chance to respond to your letter.”
In his letter to Fauci, Johnson warned that “should you fail to comply voluntarily or otherwise delay the requested interview, I will not hesitate to use compulsory process.”
Johnson responded tonight to Fauci’s decision not to testify.
“Since Fauci refuses to talk about his role and decisions related to COVID-19, my Subcommittee will continue to obtain his records and request to speak with key individuals that he worked with,” Johnson said in a post on X. “We will explore our legal options before deciding our next steps.”
Fauci, one of the most public faces of the government’s response to Covid, has been a frequent target of conservatives since the pandemic.