A US Senate committee has voted to hold Dr Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during questioning about the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved the resolution by eight votes to five, with Democratic members opposing it.

The vote followed Fauci’s appearance before the panel on 29 July, when he declined to answer more than 100 questions on the advice of his lawyers.

Committee chairman Rand Paul said the contempt referral would be sent directly to the Department of Justice for possible prosecution, rather than waiting for a full Senate vote.

A criminal contempt referral does not itself establish guilt or result in a charge; the Justice Department must decide whether to take further action.

The dispute centres on whether Fauci could invoke the constitutional protection against self-incrimination after receiving a pre-emptive federal pardon from former President Joe Biden in January 2025. The pardon covered conduct between 2014 and early 2025. Paul argues that the pardon removed the risk of federal prosecution and therefore eliminated the basis for Fauci’s refusal to answer.

That legal question has not been resolved by a court.

Fauci has said he relied on the Fifth Amendment because he believed his answers could still expose him to legal jeopardy.

He has also cited Paul’s stated wish to see him prosecuted.

In an opening statement, Fauci said it pained him to decline questions because of his respect for Congress and his long record of co-operating with its investigations.

The hearing was part of a continuing Republican examination of the origins of COVID-19, federal public-health decisions and research involving viruses.

Paul has long alleged that Fauci funded risky research connected to the possibility of a laboratory leak in China and misled the public about the pandemic’s origins.

Those allegations have not been proven, and a previous congressional inquiry did not establish that Fauci had engaged in wrongdoing.

Fauci led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until 2022 and was one of the most prominent public-health officials in the United States during the pandemic.

He has testified or briefed congressional committees more than 200 times during his career.

The contempt vote coincided with a separate development in the Senate investigation.

The Department of Health and Human Services has provided the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations with a copy of an iPhone Fauci used during the pandemic.

The subcommittee is chaired by Senator Ron Johnson and sits within the Homeland Security committee’s structure.

Investigators have also received more than 1,000 pages from Fauci’s personal diary.

Officials have not confirmed what information, if any, has been extracted from the phone or whether its contents will be made public.

The House Oversight Committee is pursuing its own inquiries.

Its chairman, James Comer, has questioned the scope and validity of Biden’s pardon and said Fauci would face further questions about his past testimony.

The immediate next decision rests with the Justice Department, which will determine whether the Senate’s contempt referral warrants prosecution.