1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

I am writing as your constituent to tell you that I am disgusted by your conduct on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and by today's party-line vote to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress. Dr. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. That right exists for everyone in this country, regardless of age, career, or how much you or your colleagues despise them. You are a Yale Law School graduate. You know exactly what the Fifth Amendment protects and why a pardon covering conduct through January 2025 does nothing to shield a witness from state prosecution or from testimony about anything since that date. Standing in that hearing room and telling an 85-year-old man he has "no rights" was not a legal argument — it was a performance, and you knew it when you said it. Mocking him by asking him to name the color of his tie was beneath the dignity of your office. This was not oversight. It was theater aimed at a private citizen who has not worked in government for years, orchestrated by a committee chairman who has spent years publicly promising to see this man "behind bars." You went along with it, and now you have voted to escalate it into a criminal contempt referral. I did not send you to Washington to settle personal vendettas against a retired scientist. I sent you there to represent Missouri. This spectacle does nothing for the people of this state. It does not lower our costs, fix our roads, or help our farmers. It is a distraction and an abuse of your committee's power, and I want it on the record that I oppose it in the strongest possible terms. I expect my senators to respect the Constitution even when it protects someone they have decided to hate. You failed that test today