On Friday, Dr Anthony Fauci declined a request to voluntarily appear before a second Senate committee, opening a new front in Republican investigations into his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fauci's lawyer rejected a request from Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, arguing that forcing the former official to testify again after his July 29 hearing would "unduly harass or degrade Dr Fauci for political purposes". Johnson is conducting an investigation into Fauci and the federal response to COVID-19, including the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
The refusal comes after Republicans on the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted last week along party lines to declare Fauci in contempt of Congress. During the July hearing, the former official invoked his right against self-incrimination, under the Fifth Amendment, more than 100 times.
The committee chairman, Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, has sought to send the contempt citation directly to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia, without passing through a full Senate vote.