Seventeen state attorneys general asked Republican congressional leadership Wednesday for more information on COVID-19 origins and possible avenues to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci legally culpable at the state level.
Fauci, former director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and figurehead of the federal COVID response, was federally pardoned by former President Joe Biden on his last day in the White House. Now state Republican prosecutors are asking federal officeholders to share any relevant information that could lead to state-level criminal charges against Fauci.
“As state attorneys general, we possess the authority to address violations of state law or breaches of public trust,” wrote the state officials. “We are fully committed to investigating any malfeasance that may have occurred to the fullest extent of our authority and are prepared to collaborate with you in further efforts.”
Republican South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson was the lead author of the correspondence, joined by others from the majority of Republican-led states across the country, including Tennessee, Florida, Texas, and Missouri.
Addressing the letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Wilson and his colleagues asked for any “information that could outline potential courses of action under state law, should they exist.”
The letter summarizes key findings from the Republican Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic final report, published in early December, as the basis of the complaint.
A central theme of the nearly 600-page report was that Fauci prompted leading scientists to discredit the possibility that the virus originated as a result of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China.
Wilson’s letter also includes the allegation from the select subcommittee’s report that Fauci misled Congress regarding federal funding of possibly hazardous virtual research at the WIV.
Biden’s pardon of Fauci applies to “any offenses which he may have committed or taken part in” beginning in January 2014, aligning with the period in which former President Barack Obama placed a three-year moratorium on the type of risky pathogen research that could have sparked a global pandemic.
“To say we are troubled by the scope and timing of the pardon — on the heels of the Subcommittee’s Final Report — would be a gross understatement,” the attorneys general wrote. “To ensure that former President Biden’s shameful pardon does not frustrate accountability, we urge Congress to consider using all available tools at its disposal.”
The state officials also sent the letter to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Rep. James Comer (R-KY), the leader of the House Oversight Committee.
Paul has promised that he will use his new leadership position in the upper chamber to hold Fauci accountable for any involvement in the start of the pandemic or alleged subsequent cover-up. This includes the possibility of subpoenaing Fauci to appear before a Senate panel again.
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Legal experts have noted that a presidential pardon means the one legally absolved of federal crimes no longer has the right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment.
But Fauci still maintains his Fifth Amendment rights to protect against self-incrimination for any violations of state law to which Biden’s pardon does not apply.