Reporter's Notebook: Why Fauci's 111 Fifth Amendment pleas could end up before the courts

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. Dr. Anthony Fauci faces potential contempt charges and a criminal referral from Senate Republicans after his contentious testimony. He invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times during questioning about the COVID-19 pandemic response. That’s the solution Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky., is engineering for the reticence of Dr. Anthony Fauci. The head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment a staggering 111 times when appearing under subpoena before Paul’s panel this week. RAND PAUL SEEKS CONTEMPT CHARGES AFTER FAUCI INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES Anthony Fauci declined to testify in a Senate committee hearing on his role in the U.S. response to COVID-19, invoking his Fifth Amendment rights. (Alex Wroblewski/AFPvia Get