Dr. Anthony Fauci's wife had a visceral reaction to a reporter who caught up with the couple on Thursday.
According to the New York Post, "Just hours after the vote to refer him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution, a sullen-looking Fauci was spotted frowning as he dutifully wheeled a recycling bin to the curb of the $2.4 million Washington, DC, home he shares with his wife and Georgetown University colleague, Christine Grady." After Fauci then entered a car being driven by his wife, "Grady, apparently enraged by the photographer’s presence in their tony neighborhood, flipped off the camera before peeling off."
Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, recently faced the hot seat before a Senate panel where Republicans hostilely grilled him on his recommendations for infection control during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) used the opportunity to advance his pet theory that Fauci helped fund Chinese research that may have created the virus, a claim for which there is no evidence.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 111 times, saying that while he has done nothing wrong, his legal counsel had advised him that any answers to GOP questioning could be twisted against him for a weaponized prosecution.
The contempt vote was based on the idea that Fauci's refusal to answer questions obstructed Congress' oversight powers. Paul intends to submit the committee vote directly to the Justice Department, rather than a full vote of the Senate as is typical for contempt referrals.
