Senate Republicans on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday voted 8-5 on a resolution to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for declining to answer lawmakers’ questions during last week’s contentious hearing.“We are voting on whether a witness who has received the benefit of a sweeping federal pardon can be ordered by this committee to answer questions and then defy that order without consequence,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the committee chair, said in his opening statement.The passage of the resolution clears the way for a criminal referral to the Justice Department.Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and lead scientist handling the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, has long been a target of Republicans and faced scrutiny over pandemic guidelines and the origins of the outbreak.During the hearing, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right over 100 times, stating in his opening remarks that he believed Republicans would have tried to use his testimony to prosecute him.David Schertler, an attorney for Fauci who was also removed from the hearing last week, said in a statement to HuffPost following the committee meeting that the vote was “a crude political stunt intended to punish Dr. Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights.”He added, “The Senate should reject Senator Paul’s meritless and politically-motivated contempt resolution. For years, Senator Paul has proclaimed to anyone who would listen that Dr. Fauci should be prosecuted and put in prison. Dr. Fauci has committed no crime — and Senator Paul knows it.”RelatedCoronavirusU.S. Senatedepartment of justiceAnthony Faucipandemic