Former President Joe Biden may have pardoned him, but Dr. Anothony Fauci’s potential legal issues are not over by a long shot.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul issued subpoenas on Monday to 14 agencies in an attempt to learn about any knowledge they may have had regarding the origin of COVID-19 and “taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research,” he announced in a press release.
“Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, announced the Committee subpoenaed fourteen agencies from the outgoing Biden-Harris administration in connection with the origins of COVID-19 and taxpayer-funded gain-of-function research. These subpoenas were issued under the Committee’s rules in force at the time, without objection from the minority. Committee rules unanimously adopted for the 119th Congress provide the Chairman authority to issue such subpoenas on his own directive,” the press release said.
“The subpoenas, sent on January 13, 2025, build upon the Committee’s joint investigation of national security threats posed by high-risk biological research and technology in the U.S. and abroad. The Committee held bipartisan hearings examining oversight of taxpayer-funded high-risk virus research, the first full Senate Committee hearing on the origins of COVID-19, and overwhelmingly passed Dr. Paul’s Risky Research Review Act,” the release added.
“The list of agencies includes the National Institutes of Health, Department of State, United States Agency for International Development, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Health and Human Services, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Council, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, and Office of Science and Technology Policy,” it said.
“In the wake of Anthony Fauci’s preemptive pardon, there are still questions to be answered. Who at NIH directed funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, and why was the proposal not scrutinized by the P3CO safety committee? For four years, I have requested records from the NIH and other agencies on all deliberations regarding the decision to skip oversight by the safety committee only to be stonewalled,” the senator said in the press release.
“Today, I’m announcing subpoenas were sent from the Committee to NIH and 13 other agencies regarding their involvement in risky gain-of-function research. The goal of the investigation will be to critique the process that allowed this dangerous research, that may have led to the pandemic, to occur in a foreign country under unsafe protocols and to ensure that there is sufficient oversight and review going forward, making sure a mistake of this magnitude never happens again,” he said.
Because of Biden’s pre-emptive pardon, Fauci can’t invoke his Fifth Amendment right and must answer questions, presumably under oath, University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle told Newsweek.
“The pardons do not impact the Fifth Amendment right to self-incrimination unless they are accepted by the recipient, and there is no legal deadline for doing so,” the professor said.
“If there is an acceptance of a pardon and the recipient is called to testify, it is accurate that they cannot successfully invoke the Fifth Amendment on matters covered by the pardon because there would be no threat of incrimination. If they refuse to testify, they could be held in contempt, but as we saw when Trump witnesses refused to testify in the January 6th matter, that is a laborious process and not as easy to execute as contempt by a judge, although I assume Pam Bondi would not hesitate to prosecute,” she said.
Last week, President Donald Trump terminated the taxpayer-funded security detail for Fauci.
As the lead health official and public spokesperson during the COVID-19 pandemic, Fauci received threats, so the National Institutes of Health (NIH) asked for security for him in 2020, Fox News reported.
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