Lawmakers are currently voting on whether to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for declining to answer questions during his recent testimony, as details regarding his pandemic-era activities—documented in diaries and phone records—continue to emerge.

This comes after the retired immunologist—who held several senior advisory roles during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times during a hearing last week.

Fauci’s legal team has maintained that he was on “solid legal ground” in asserting his right to plead the fifth in response to every question during his testimony. However, Republican Senator Rand Paul, who chairs the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and convened last week’s hearing, said this action could mean Fauci faces contempt-of-Congress proceedings—a vote on which is being held Thursday morning.

Newsweek has contacted Fauci’s attorney and Georgetown University—where Fauci currently serves in the Department of Medicine—for comment on the vote.

What Sparked the Contempt Vote?

During last week’s testimony, Fauci repeatedly pleaded the Fifth Amendment after stating in his opening statement that Senator Paul had an "obvious obsession" with prosecuting him.

"The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something - anything - that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, 'behind bars,'" Fauci said.

Paul argued during the hearing that Fauci should not have any such concerns, given the broad, pre-emptive pardon granted to him by Joe Biden at the end of his presidency.

This pardon protected him from federal prosecution over actions taken between 2014 and 2025, but does not shield him from state and local charges, and charges after this date.

On Tuesday, Paul released his contempt resolution against Fauci, and accused him of “obstruction of a congressional investigation.”

“Dr. Fauci appeared under subpoena and invoked the Fifth Amendment to refuse answering questions,” Paul said in a press release. “During the hearing, I ruled that the Fifth Amendment did not apply because of the pardon, and that Fauci had waived any remaining privilege by giving opening testimony. I ordered him to answer and warned him about contempt, yet he still refused.”

Committee Obtains Phone Ahead of Vote

Ahead of the Contempt of Congress vote, Republicans on the Homeland Security Committee said they had obtained a “copy” of Fauci’s phone.

Writing on X, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said he hoped the device “will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported that the committee had obtained the phone, it was used by Fauci during his time as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

This comes after excerpts of Fauci’s diary were released ahead of his Senate hearing. These revealed that he harbored personal doubts about the virus’s origins, as well as concerns about President Donald Trump’s handling of the crisis.

This is a developing story and will be updated.