Barbra Streisand has publicly defended Dr. Anthony Fauci following the Senate’s vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, calling the action a “disgraceful witch hunt” and praising the controversial former health official as an “American hero.”
The 84-year-old singer and actress posted her remarks Friday on Bluesky, the social media platform, after the Senate voted Thursday to hold Fauci in contempt. The vote, led by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, came after Fauci exercised his Fifth Amendment right not to testify before lawmakers, despite having received a preemptive blanket pardon from then-President Joe Biden.
“Dr. Anthony Fauci has been subjected to a disgraceful witch hunt by Senate Republicans,” Streisand wrote in her post. “Dr Fauci is an American hero.”
She continued: “Amid the horrors of the Covid pandemic which killed one million Americans, Dr Fauci was a voice of reason and helped speed the development of the vaccine to prevent hospitalization. The GOP is attempting to rewrite the history of the pandemic.”
Background on the Contempt Vote
The contempt vote stems from ongoing congressional scrutiny of Fauci’s conduct as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Chief Medical Advisor to the President during the pandemic. According to Breitbart, private notes Fauci logged on a government server reportedly showed discrepancies between his public statements and private thoughts regarding the coronavirus before it was officially declared a pandemic.
Senate Republicans have also obtained a forensic copy of a cell phone Fauci used during the pandemic period, which lawmakers expect may reveal additional inconsistencies between his public and private actions.
Streisand’s Pandemic-Era Positions
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Streisand was vocal in her criticism of then-President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers, personally blaming them for deaths that occurred during the crisis. The entertainer made several partisan statements during that period while simultaneously calling for less division in the country.
After the pandemic, Streisand’s own business dealings during the crisis drew scrutiny. According to reports, her film production company, Barwood Films Ltd., received $200,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans from the federal government in 2020 and 2021. Some of that money was reportedly used to pay Streisand’s personal gardener working at her Malibu mansion.
Ongoing Investigations
The reckoning over Fauci’s pandemic-era actions appears far from over. Beyond the Senate’s contempt vote and cell phone investigation, Florida has launched a state-level investigation into potential self-dealing during the pandemic.
Significantly, Biden’s federal pardon would not shield Fauci from any state-level criminal charges that might result from Florida’s probe, creating a potential avenue for accountability that the preemptive presidential pardon cannot block.
The contempt citation represents a rare congressional rebuke of a high-profile health official and reflects the deep political divisions that continue to mark discussions of pandemic response more than four years after COVID-19’s emergence.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2026/08/08/barbra-streisand-laments-disgraceful-witch-hunt-against-fauci-gop-trying-to-rewrite-the-history-of-the-pandemic/