A Senate panel has scheduled a vote for Thursday on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress after he refused to answer questions at a hearing last week.
Senator Rand Paul, who leads the panel, said he expects the vote to pass and vowed to promptly refer the matter to the Justice Department.
Ahead of the vote, Senate investigators obtained a copy of Fauci's iPhone from his tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services. Senator Ron Johnson's subcommittee received the phone, which covers the pandemic period.
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during last week's hearing, declining to answer lawmakers' questions.