State AGs Launch Investigation Into Fauci Despite Biden’s Preemptive Pardon

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and a coalition of at least 16 other attorneys general are launching an investigation into potential criminal actions by Dr. Anthony Fauci. The AGs have contacted House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to request relevant information from their investigations. This investigation comes just weeks after President Joe Biden issued a blanket federal pardon to Dr. Fauci dating back to January 1, 2014. The pardon does not protect Dr. Fauci from state-level prosecution.

The pardon raised questions about what crimes Dr. Fauci may have committed because pardons are typically issued for specific crimes. When issuing the pardon alongside those who served on the January 6 commission and Mark Milley, Biden said, “The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense.”

Dr. Fauci thanked Biden for the pardon to protect him against politically motivated investigations and insisted he didn’t commit any crimes. Fauci said, “Despite the accomplishments that my colleagues and I achieved over my long career of public service, I have been the subject of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution. There is absolutely no basis for these threats. Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime.”

The letter lists three categories of potential misconduct by Dr. Fauci, including the origin of the pandemic, mismanagement within the NIH, and public health policy decisions. The letter praises the work of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Chairman Brad Wenstrup.

The letter states, “As we all now know, and as the report found, the weight of the evidence increasingly supports a lab leak hypothesis, and Dr. Fauci’s potential involvement in attempting to discredit that hypothesis is troubling. Any deliberate manipulation or suppression of alternative hypotheses could have delayed critical understanding of and responses to the pandemic, with dire consequences for global health.”

Not only does Fauci face state-level investigations following his preemptive pardon, he can still be asked to testify for a federal investigation. Senator Rand Paul, who argued with Fauci during Senate hearings about the pandemic, has vowed to expose the “coverup.”

After Biden issued the pardon, Senator Paul wrote on X that he will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed.

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.…

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 20, 2025

During an interview with Fox News in 2023, Paul said Fauci belongs in jail, “without question…this man was a traitor to his country.”

The AG letter to Rep Johnson and Senator Thune refers to Dr. Fauci’s denial that the NIH funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The subcommittee verified that EcoHealth Alliance funded the research, which has now been officially debarred from receiving federal research funding.

The letter states, “This discrepancy not only raises questions about the integrity of his testimony but also about the broader implications for scientific integrity and public trust. The possibility of perjury or at least a significant lack of transparency demands attention.”

According to the letter, the mismanagement of NIH and improper oversight are other potential areas to investigate. “These grants facilitated gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology under conditions that were not adequately monitored, directly implicating Dr. Fauci’s leadership in potential mismanagement or negligence. Indeed, the multitudes of findings from Congress show that American tax dollars went directly to this research without proper scrutiny from the NIH.”

The attorneys general also refer to Dr. Fauci’s public health policy and guidance, including stifling vaccine safety conversation. The letter states:

“Dr. Fauci led a deliberate campaign to stifle the voices of premier health scholars regarding the lack of adequate testing of vaccines. This subsequently siloed crucial information from the public that may have led to more public awareness concerning the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis among young adult males; the verified increased risk of blood clots in women; and the long-term effects vaccines had on fertility. The notion of “trusting the science” not only was grotesquely false, but was the very definition of propaganda that contributed to serious vaccine injuries—and in some cases, death.”

The attorneys general denounced Biden’s blanket pardon following the release of the subcommittee’s report. They “urge” Congress to use “all tools at its disposal,” explicitly referring “any pertinent findings to state officials.” The attorneys general vow to “investigate malfeasance” and to “make informed decisions aimed at holding malign actors accountable. “

Senator Rand Paul, Senator Bill Cassidy, Congressman James Comer, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya were all copied on the letter. Dr. Bhattacharya still faces his own Senate confirmation hearing and vote before he can take the reigns of the NIH. If confirmed, he will have access to internal documents and emails previously unreleased or redacted.

During a hearing with HHS Secretary Xavier Baccera, Senator Ron Johnson said 4,000 documents were FOIA’d, primarily emails from Dr. Fauci. Five members of the Homeland Security Committee asked for the unredacted documents, but the committee could not access these documents.

The Intercept reported in 2022 about an NIH FOIA request in which the outlet received 292 redacted pages about the research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Despite Biden issuing a pardon before the end of his presidential term, Senator Paul and 17 attorneys general remain committed to uncovering the truth through a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee investigation into Dr. Fauci for potential state-level crimes.