Rand Paul says there's 'very real chance' Fauci could be prosecuted

U.S. Senator Rand Paul.

U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci's repeated invoking of the Fifth Amendment during Wednesday's Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing could open him up to prosecution, something the disgraced doctor's critics have been clamoring for -- and despite the preemptive pardon former President Joe Biden granted Fauci before he finished his lone term in the Oval Office. 

Fauci refused to answer any questions asked of him by a parade of senators on Capitol Hill Wednesday, instead invoking his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during the hearing, which turned contentious at points. Early on in the four-hour hearing, Paul had one of Fauci's attorneys escorted out for repeatedly disrupting the proceeding.

"I think there is a very real chance that he could be prosecuted for that," Paul said in an interview with CBS News. "There is a charge that can be voted upon called contempt of Congress. It's a resolution -- if it passes, it will be sent to the Department of Justice with the recommendation of prosecuting," Paul said.

There is a legal question that attaches to this," Paul continued. "Can the Fifth Amendment be taken or can you ask for the Fifth Amendment protections when you've already been granted immunity through a pardon? I don't think this has ever been truly and fully adjudicated."

Paul suggested Fauci didn't need to invoke the Fifth Amendment when the senator asked him if he'd destroyed COVID-related documents, because Fauci was protected by Biden's pardon. He said the blanket refusal to answer that and other questions, revealed the extent of his dishonesty, since, Paul said, email records show a former Fauci assistant confirmed he deleted sensitive COVID files. 

According to CBS News, the Senate Homeland Security Committee would first vote on a measure to recommend charges for Fauci, and, if approved, the measure would be voted on by the full Senate. A full 60 votes in the Senate might be necessary for the matter to be sent to the Justice Department, meaning all senate Republicans would have to vote in favor and some Democrats, who have largely defended Fauci, would have to cross party lines. 

Earlier this week, Paul released a trove of diary entries recovered from Fauci's government computer, which revealed Fauci to be manipulative, duplicitous and, above all, obsessed with his own exploding fame. Many of Wednesday's questions focused on the diary entries, but Fauci stonewalled senators every time.

Watch the full interview with Rand Paul below.