Sen. Ted Cruz is calling for Anthony Fauci to be held in contempt of Congress, prosecuted for perjury, and jailed following a Senate hearing in which the former White House COVID-19 advisor invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times. As reported by Fox News, Cruz’s comments followed Fauci’s appearance under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29, 2026. Fauci has not publicly responded to Cruz’s specific remarks.

The hearing, held in Washington, D.C., escalated quickly. Committee Chairman Rand Paul said he intends to seek contempt charges against Fauci after the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases repeatedly declined to answer questions by invoking his Fifth Amendment rights.

Cruz told Fox News Digital he believes future observers will ask “what collective madness overtook this country” once looking back at the episode. He said Fauci has shown contempt for Congress and the public throughout his career, pointing to diary entries Cruz says show inconsistencies between what Fauci privately noted and what he told the public. Cruz and Fauci have clashed repeatedly in the past over the government’s pandemic response and the origins of Covid-19.

Cruz pointed to diary entries he says show Fauci privately acknowledged uncertainty about whether the virus originated at the Wuhan wet market, even as he offered a different account publicly. Cruz also accused Fauci of privately taking credit for pushing school closures in New York and California while publicly denying involvement in those decisions. He described the resulting learning loss as one of the most damaging public policy outcomes in recent decades, according to Fox News.

A contempt citation carries specific legal weight. Under 2 U.S.C. § 192, willfully failing to comply with a valid congressional subpoena is a misdemeanor, carrying potential fines up to $100,000 and imprisonment ranging from one month to twelve months upon conviction. The hearing took place the same week a Chipotle manager demotion call was separately drawing attention online.

The process for pursuing contempt runs through the Department of Justice. Once a committee reports noncompliance, the Speaker of the House or the President of the Senate certifies the facts to the relevant U.S. Attorney, who is then tasked with bringing the matter before a grand jury. In practice, the department has often exercised discretion in these cases, particularly involving current or former executive branch officials, meaning prosecution is far from guaranteed even if a contempt citation moves forward.

Cruz argued that Fauci’s legacy will now be defined by his refusal to answer questions under oath, calling him “the most damaging bureaucrat in the history of America.” He maintained that Fauci should face contempt charges, perjury prosecution, and jail time over what Cruz described as knowingly misleading the public. Around the same period, a Gen Z job loss story also circulated widely amid unrelated online discussion.

Whether Cruz’s calls for prosecution gain traction within the Department of Justice remains to be seen, according to the Congressional Research Service’s overview of contempt law.

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