Podcaster Chuck Todd reacts to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee voting to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: I do wonder what you think of this Rand Paul-Anthony Fauci thing that we’re seeing going on because you see you see Rand Paul, who really led the charge here to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress this morning. A lot of people, of course, very skeptical of public health officials after the COVID pandemic. Anthony Fauci was really the face of that federally. And yet Paul is taking this unprecedented step of sending this referral for prosecution directly to DOJ. He’s basically leapfrogging the full Senate where he’d have a tough time getting the votes to send this to DOJ. How are you seeing that? CHUCK TODD: Well, look, he’s channeling a sort of faction inside the conservative movement that has been frustrated by this. And he sort of, in some ways, right, Anthony Fauci is that red meat. Now, if you’re trying to be logical about this, if Rand Paul is really upset about how to, how, how the COVID pandemic was managed. You know, Anthony Fauci had no power. Anthony Fauci simply made recommendations. The person who executed things that maybe Rand Paul and some of his supporters don’t like is the president of the United States, Donald John Trump, right? But they’re not holding Trump accountable for this, right? Anthony Fauci had no actual power here whatsoever. And so, you know, this, this, you know, this a little bit, this is why I think people realize it’s theater. It’s not real, but I’ll be honest with you. I thought Anthony Fauci made a huge mistake in taking, pleading the fifth. I think you hand a talking point. I think the average person hears that and thinks, oh, maybe he does have something to hide. Maybe he is fearful of something. And, and, you know, knowing how the current world of Washington works, I understand why a lawyer gave Tony Fauci the advice to say, take the fifth, gigantic mistake. And it’s a terrible end to his, to his, to his legacy. And I’m sorry it happened. I get it. I understand the risk averseness that lawyers can do sometimes, but I think it was a PR mistake. And I really think it harmed public, the perception of public health, Brianna. I really do. KEILAR: Yeah. It’s been a really interesting and important thing to watch this. I want to call it a debate because it’s become more than that between Anthony Fauci and Rand Paul. TODD: It’s not a debate. I wish it were. KEILAR: I know, right? TODD: An actual debate with substance, and they spoke to each other instead of talking past each other. Maybe we would get somewhere.

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