It seems Dr. Anthony Fauci, his rapid-fire invocations of the Fifth Amendment, presidential pardon and all, isn't out of the woods yet. Here at RedState and pretty much everywhere else in the known universe where people are following all this, we've noted that the pardon doesn't protect Dr. Fauci from charges at the state level.
And, the first state to take action on that possibility? Florida. The Sunshine State is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci and his economy-crushing COVID-19 debacle.
After Wednesday morning’s congressional hearing with former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci where he declined to answer any questions and instead pleaded the Fifth Amendment, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced he is launching an investigation into Fauci.
“Fauci's lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable,” Uthmeier wrote on social media. “My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It's past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID.”
On the last day of his presidential term, former President Joe Biden granted Fauci a full and unconditional pardon for any offenses he may have “committed or taken part in” related to his governmental roles from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 19, 2025, the day the pardon was signed.
The pardon protects Fauci from being prosecuted for any federal crimes he may have committed during that time period, but it does not protect him from state prosecutors.
So, what crimes might Dr. Fauci be on the hook for in Florida? The state of Florida may seek charges for civil rights violations resulting from the pandemic restrictions, which were ruinous to small businesses and damaging to schoolkids, who missed out on months of in-person instruction. But those matters are generally civil cases, not criminal ones. Florida may seek to file a civil lawsuit, but for better or for worse, Dr. Fauci was a federal employee making decisions that affected national policy; it's hard to see a state, any state, pursuing criminal charges against him.
Governor Ron DeSantis was a vocal opponent of the COVID lockdowns, and Florida was among the first states to drop those restrictions. But it's a little hard to see that developing into a criminal case, one that would convince a grand jury to return an indictment.
But civil liability? That may well be another story. And it may not stop with Florida, not with the newly revealed diary that was the primary subject of the latest round of Congressional grilling.
Uthmeier is the first state attorney general to announce an investigation into Fauci, though as the Financial Times reported, others have threatened to since the pandemic.
Wednesday’s hearing came on the heels of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., obtaining and releasing over 1,000 pages from Fauci’s pandemic-era diary. Congress has questioned Fauci before, but access to the former director’s written personal thoughts prompted Republican lawmakers to again challenge him on Capitol Hill. Paul said the diary provided evidence that Fauci’s private thoughts did not align with his public health decisions.
There's always the possibility that the Senate may vote to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress, which carries with it the possibility of a one-year jail term.
So, no, state-level criminal charges or not, Dr. Anthony Fauci isn't out of the woods yet - not by a long shot.
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