Dr. Anthony Fauci Receives Blanket Preemptive Pardon; Claims No Crimes Committed
Updated
President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci and others during his final hours in office. Dr. Fauci has not been formally charged with any crimes, and Biden said that this should not be “misconstrued as an admission of guilt.” Dr. Fauci has been accused by Senator Rand Paul of lying under oath in front of Congress and covering up his role in approving gain-of-function research in Wuhan.
In an official White House statement, Biden said “Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy. Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”
Dr. Fauci has been criticized for his role in pandemic policies, including “flip-flopping” on the effectiveness of masks and misrepresenting the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. In 2021, Dr. Fauci said vaccinated individuals become a “dead end,” for the virus and essentially stop it from transmitting. He acknowledged that breakthrough infections occur, but they are generally “asymptomatic,” and the level of the virus is low.
Dr. Fauci went viral in his interactions with Senator Paul, who denied US funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic investigated the messaging from public health officials as well as the origins of the virus. When the pandemic began, the prevailing narrative was that the virus was a zoonotic infection from a bat at a Wuhan wet market near the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The FBI assessment concluded that a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology is the most likely cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Fauci has been accused of committing perjury for denying the gain-of-function research conducted in Wuhan. The subcommittee also uncovered emails between Fauci, his advisors, and Francis Collins working together to dismiss the lab origin theory as a conspiracy. During congressional hearings, Fauci later admitted that lab origin is not a conspiracy theory. Intelligence agencies have concluded that lab origin is the most likely theory. Dr. Robert Redfield, the former director of the CDC, also firmly believes the virus leaked from the Wuhan Institute and sparked the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
The White Coat Waste Project was the group that uncovered the coronavirus gain-of-function experiments in Wuhan, which the US government funded with approval from Dr. Fauci. WCWP Senior Vice President Justin Goodman issued a statement in response to the pardon. “Biden’s pardon may exonerate Fauci from jail, but not the facts,” Goodman said. “As we first exposed, Fauci illegally funded gain-of-function animal tests in Wuhan that likely caused COVID and he bankrolled beagle torture around the world. White Coat Waste investigators and Senator Rand Paul then busted him for breaking the law by repeatedly lying to Congress about it. Regardless of legal jeopardy, this pardon ends Fauci’s contemptible career under a cloud of shame and suspicion. He may be gone from government, but his shameful legacy of wasteful spending on dangerous and cruel animal tests lives on at the NIH, and we’ll be working overtime to dismantle it with the Trump Administration. Never forgive, never forget.”
The blanket preemptive pardon issued by President Biden goes back to 2014, which is when a moratorium on gain-of-function research took place. The pardon only applies to federal crimes, and Dr. Fauci can still be prosecuted at the state level if there are crimes he committed.
Senator Paul responded to the pardon with a post on X. He said “If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal. As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed. Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.”
Paul Thacker with Real Clear Investigations reports that the pardon doesn’t exempt him from all potential legal implications. Fauci loses his ability to plead the 5th amendment if questioned about any of his actions during the period covered by the pardon because he cannot implicate himself in a crime. Thacker explains that Fauci may be asked if he lied about gain-of-function research when testifying before Congress. He must answer truthfully or it is considered a new offense of perjury that doesn’t fall within the scope of the pardon.
Thacker reported that an anonymous source and adviser to the Trump transition team said the pardon “will not stop Department of Justice investigations.” Thacker’s source added, “We expected this and look at it as a predicate to get truth from people who can no longer use the Fifth Amendment. Now we can bring every one of them in front of a grand jury.”
The preemptive pardons that President Biden issued called into question whether a pardon is an admission of wrongdoing. A Supreme Court Case, Burdick v United States (1915), concluded that a pardon is “not effective unless accepted by the person pardoned.” Justice Joseph McKenna’s majority opinion added, “Acceptance of a pardon is an acknowledgement of guilt.”
The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic investigation found emails pointing to a lab-origin coverup, attempts to dodge FOIA requests, and moves communications to private email accounts.
Emily Kopp, a reporter for US Right to Know, listed four alleged cases of Fauci committing perjury during a House hearing last year. In addition to claiming the NIH did not fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan, Dr. Fauci also stated “The one thing I know for sure is that the viruses funded by NIH phylogenetically cannot be the precursor to SARS-CoV-2.” Peter Daszak wrote in an email in 2020 that 15,000 bat samples were collected and 700 coronaviruses were not yet sequenced.
Dr. Richard Ebright, who has also testified at congressional coronavirus hearings, called the pardon a “travesty.” He wrote, “Fauci violated federal policies on gain-of-function and enhanced potential pandemic pathogen research, committed conspiracy to defraud and perjury, used federal funds to commit crimes, and caused a pandemic that killed $20 million and cost $25 trillion.”
There have not been any official charges for alleged crimes committed by Dr. Fauci. He told media outlets that he appreciates the pardon but insists he has not committed any crimes. He said, “Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me.”