The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs rejected on Sept. 23 a bid to seek immunity for a longtime special assistant to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The vote on a resolution authorizing an application for a court order compelling testimony under immunity from the assistant, who was not identified, fell short of the required two-thirds of members.
All eight Republicans, but no Democrats, voted in favor. Two Democrats would have had to cross the aisle for the resolution to be approved.
Fauci, 85, headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022.
He refused to answer questions before the panel earlier in the year, citing the Fifth Amendment, prompting the committee to refer him for contempt of Congress to federal prosecutors.
The Department of Justice has not charged Fauci with any crimes.
As Zachary Stieber reports for The Epoch Times, the female assistant worked for Fauci from 2007 to 2022, according to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the committee's chairman.
He said her position "placed her in the flow of communications directly relevant to our investigation" into Fauci.
She recently appeared behind closed doors before the committee and invoked the Fifth Amendment, or her right against self-
