Rand Paul Vows Consequences Coming for Dr. Fauci After Heated Senate Exchange
Paul insists that all Dr Fauci had to do "was tell the truth."
Senator Rand Paul had some harsh words for Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee meeting yesterday. All 8 of the GOP members on the governing body voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
In moments captured by CNN Paul said, “Dr. Fauci faced no risk of federal prosecution. All he had to do was tell the truth.” The senator then said he’d be delivering his referral for Fauci straight to the Department of Justice.
Talking to the pool of reporters, Paul said: “No decision has been made. The only decision that’s been made so far is to bring it to the committee, and it’s passed. The next decision we have decided is we will forward it. It’s the committee’s verdict that he should be held in contempt and it will be sent. But, no one said that we won’t bring it before the Senate. We’ll see what happens over time.”
“But, this is outside of the ordinary bill-making process, so it doesn’t have to go to the House. It doesn’t have to be signed by the president, and really, doesn’t have to go before the Senate. There is some precedent for doing it that way, and it still may be done that way,” Paul said. “But, for now, we will hand-carry this over to the Attorney General. We will hand carry this to the district court here in Columbia. And, as a committee, we have voted as a majority to refer this, so that will be accomplished today.”
Setting a “damaging precedent”
There were some bonus fireworks during the Committee hearing. Senator Gary Peters argued that Paul was setting a “damaging precedent.” As Peters spoke, tensions boiled over and both men had something to say about the proceedings. Paul interjected with “I’ve let you go on, and on, and we’re going to get to the votes.” Things got petty from there.
Peters said: “I don’t ever remember cutting you off when you were a ranking member and I’ve always respected your rights and I’m going to continue respecting your rights. I hope that you would offer that same courtesy to us. Because things do change, and precedent is important.”
Then, things shifted as Paul motioned to get things rolling towards the vote to hold Fauci in contempt of court. The Senate Committee chairman replied, “For the record, Anthony Fauci refused a voluntary private deposition, and that’s why he was brought in with a subpoena.”
As Peters tried to rebut, Paul tersely and repeatedly added, “Don’t interrupt the chair.” The Kentucky politician also said that Democratic Committee members were sent documents about this hearing beforehand. He then claimed that none of them had opened the files, and hadn’t reached out to learn more until now.
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