Legal analysis on whether Dr. Anthony Fauci can be punished for invoking Fifth Amendment

CBS News' legal contributor Jessica Levinson breaks down the legal implications of Dr. Anthony Fauci's invoking of the Fifth Amendment amid lawmakers' questions on the COVID-19 pandemic during Wednesday's Senate hearing.

Rand Paul questions whether Anthony Fauci could legally invoke the Fifth Amendment after receiving a presidential pardon from Joe Biden in January 2025.

The Senate has a clear duty to hold him in contempt, and with all practical penalties that can entail.

Rand Paul wants the top doc to face ‘consequences’ for refusing to testify

Some Republicans in Congress, including Sen. Rand Paul who subpoenaed Fauci to testify, have long called on him to be arrested for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fauci Threatened With Contempt Of Congress After Invoking Fifth Amendment  Forbes

Former top US health official Anthony Fauci refused to answer questions at a US Senate hearing about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, saying he feared Republican lawmakers would try to use his testimony to prosecute him for perjury.

Scientist who fell out with Donald Trump accuses Republican senator of having ‘unhinged obsession’

4 min readUpdated: Jul 29, 2026 07:43 PM IST Anthony Fauci, the former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), attends a US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 29, 2026. (REUTERS) Former US infectious disease expert D

The move injects new drama into tensions between Fauci and Republican lawmakers over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and accusations he lied about the origins of COVID-19.

Anthony Fauci Invokes Fifth Amendment at Covid-19 Hearing  WSJ