Dr. Anthony Facui pleaded the Fifth to all questioning during his Senate hearing on Wednesday — but is he really in the clear?
On his last day in office — January 20, 2025 — former President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon to Fauci preventing him from facing prosecution in the future from all his conduct between 2014 and 2025. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said that Fauci would face repercussions for his refusal to testify during the hearing, according to Politico.
Legal experts are torn over if Fauci will get away with pleading the Fifth or if it could lead to later civil contempt sanctions. If the latter holds true, this would mean that Fauci could face a court order requiring him to testify or he could face fines or imprisonment, Politico reported.
“Fauci can’t be prosecuted by the Feds for anything that happened before Biden’s presidential pardon, and him pleading the Fifth to every question today prevents him from being prosecuted for perjury related to his Senate testimony. Congress could theoretically grant Fauci immunity to compel his testimony, but politically that is highly unlikely because he is so unpopular,” Neama Rahmani, President of West Coast Trial Lawyers and former federal prosecutor told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“By showing up to the hearing, Fauci avoided being in contempt of Congress. And by refusing to answer any questions, he can’t be charged with false statements, obstruction, or perjury. It was the right legal move, even though it’s a bad look politically because people think he has something to hide,” Rahmani continued.
Fauci served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 to 2022. He was widely regarded as the public face of the heavily scrutinized U.S. public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since Fauci was granted a preemptive pardon by Biden, some argue that the public health official cannot claim fear of prosecution for questions about conduct covered by the pardon, meaning that his right to plead the Fifth does not apply. However, if he were to provide false testimony to the panel during questioning, he could face prosecution, according to Politico.
“The Senate could still compel Dr. Fauci to testify with a grant of immunity. He would still be at risk for any false testimony given in an immunized hearing, but would be protected in acknowledging prior false or misleading statements. Immunity is not a license for perjury so that remains a risk,” Jonathan Turley, a legal expert and professor at George Washington University Law School said in a statement to the DCNF.
Fauci invoked the Fifth 111 times during the hearing. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News Digital that “Biden’s pardon doesn’t cover Dr. Fauci’s testimony this week and if he continues to lie, he must be held accountable.”
Paul and several other committee members grilled Fauci with questions relating to his response to the Covid-19 outbreak and Fauci claimed that Paul’s goal was to trip him up and lead to him being imprisoned in his beginning statement, according to the hearing.
“There are also questions about the questions limited to the period of his pardon as well as his decision to give an opening statement before invocation,” Turley continued in his statement to the DCNF.
“He is within his rights to invoke the fifth,” Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School Professor told the DCNF.
South Texas College of Law Professor, Tom Hogan, told the DCNF that because of Biden’s preemptive pardon “Fauci cannot be prosecuted federally for his prior conduct during the Covid pandemic.”
“Congress could consider contempt proceedings. Local or state prosecutors might try to get creative, but I doubt that will happen.”
Investigative reporter, Catherine Herridge, wrote in an X post saying that Sen. Paul told her a few ways to challenge the preemptive Biden pardon.
According to her post, since Fauci has been pardoned for his work with the NIH between 2014 and 2025 there is no reason for him to plead the Fifth since he would not be self-incriminating. Since Fauci did plead the Fifth a finding of contempt against Fauci could follow, according to Herridge’s post.
Jeffery Tucker, president and founder of the Brownstone Institute, says that because of the pardon Fauci’s right to plead the Fifth does not apply, according to his Wednesday X post.
(DCNF)
