As U.S. senators consider a contempt of Congress resolution against former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin says his Republican colleagues owe Fauci an apology.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote on the resolution Thursday morning after Fauci refused to answer questions under subpoena last week.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, said the American people deserve to know why the federal agency led by Fauci provided for taxpayer-funded research at a Chinese lab that lacked safety standards.
“The decision to fund dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China, will likely go down in history as one of the worst public health decisions. Frankly, the American people deserve an apology,” Paul said.
Paul said Fauci should help the U.S. government devise safeguards so a man-made epidemic never happens again.
“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Fauci said repeatedly.
Paul said the Fifth Amendment does not apply, because Fauci was pardoned by then-President Joe Biden in 2025.
On Monday, Durbin, D-Illinois, defended Fauci during a speech on the Senate floor.
“Dr. Fauci is an example of American excellence, a brilliant scientific mind, and yet, the Republican Party has decided to make this doctor, who saved countless lives, a political target,” Durbin said.
The Illinois Democrat said Senate Republicans dragged Fauci in front of Congress for a sham hearing.
“Dr. Fauci deserves an apology for the way he was treated by my colleagues, and the American people deserve better than the pitiful display we saw in the Senate last Wednesday,” Durbin said.
In 2024, Durbin presented Fauci with a University of Illinois’ Paul H. Douglas Award for ethics in government.
U of I System President Tim Killeen presented Durbin with the same award on April 29 of this year.
Previous winners of the award include former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, former President Barack Obama, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former Illinois U.S. Sen. Paul Simon.
Morgan Sweeney contributed to this story