“Today I am the most famous and talked-about person in the country.” Those words from the diary of Dr. Anthony Fauci will certainly be true today as the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs moves forward with holding him in contempt for refusing to answer over a hundred questions about his past conduct and statements as the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
The contempt vote will start a process that is fraught with political and legal challenges. Even putting aside the objections to the direct referral from the Committee to the Justice Department (rather than submit the matter to a full Senate vote), there remain serious questions about whether Fauci can be held in contempt after invoking his right to remain silent under the Fifth Amendment. As I have previously stated, this area is rather murky and Fauci likely has the advantage in any litigation.
At the outset, it is important to note that Fauci always faced a risk of perjury in his prior appearances. Even if immunized, a witness can always be prosecuted for false statements. Fauci is in a much stronger position today than he was in prior hearings due to the sweeping pardon he received from former President Joe Biden. Yet, he suddenly decided to remain silent when his own words came back to contradict him.
Now for the legal questions.
If a witness is immunized, they can be compelled to testify. If, for example, the Senate granted Fauci immunity, there would be little question about his answering these questions as well as the ability to charge him for any false statements.
The Senate Committee is arguing that the Biden pardon had the same impact. Since Fauci cannot be prosecuted for any acts during the extended period of the pardon (going back to 2014 when the government allegedly funded “gain-of-function research). Chairman Rand Paul did an excellent job in putting this issue into sharp relief in his final set of questions by framing his inquiry as confined to the period of his pardon.
The argument is credible and, for many, compelling: since Fauci cannot be prosecuted for any conduct during the pardon period, he has no legal exposure so long as he speaks truthfully.
For Fauci, that is a question that could be highly subjective. He referred to the risk of a “perjury trap” in his opening statement. He declared, “The only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something — anything — that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, ‘behind bars.’”
Even that statement could present a matter for litigation. Congress previously found in 2013 when high-ranking IRS leader Lois Lerner also pleaded the Fifth after giving an opening statement before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The Justice Department under the Obama Administration refused to prosecute. Fauci will argue that such a general statement does not waive the privilege and that, when asked a question, he promptly and consistently invoked it.
Of course, this is the Trump Administration, not the Obama Administration. Ironically, if the matter is litigated, the Administration will be in the position of defending the pardon, which it has long questioned, as the result of Joe Biden’s infamous autopen. The ability to hold Fauci in contempt becomes dependent on that pardon being valid.
The Justice Department can argue that the Supreme Court has consistently held that the mere fear of a perjury charge is insufficient to compel witnesses who are immunized, dating back to 1896 in Brown v. Walker.
Moreover, the Supreme Court has held that “anticipatory perjury” is not a basis for such a refusal to testify in cases such as United States v. Apfelbaum.
However, Fauci can cite new state investigations as unaffected by the federal pardon, as well as new questions arising outside the pardon that could theoretically pose ongoing risks of criminal prosecution.
Courts have generally adopted broad interpretations to protect the right to remain silent, a touchstone of our legal system. That is why I believe Fauci likely has the edge in any challenge.
The fact is that it is uncertain. The cases in this area remain relatively sparse, and any pardon case is highly case-specific to the confines and scope of the specific pardon.
If so, Fauci can remain silent, but that silence will remain deafening for many in this country.
The right to do something does not make it the right thing to do. Fauci, in my view, was wrong to invoke the privilege against self-incrimination even if it was his right to do so. Millions of Americans lost loved ones during the pandemic, and the United States had one of the worst records in dealing with COVID-19 in terms of costs and deaths. Fauci’s diaries exposed disturbing contradictions between what he previously stated publicly and what he actually believed. Americans have a right to know the truth, and Fauci was not saying a thing, invoking the privilege 111 times.
He will say nothing to the families who lost loved ones or the business owners ruined by now-debunked pandemic measures.
He will say nothing to the scientists who were canceled, blacklisted, and fired for opposing these policies. Those scientists did not get the bobbleheads and celebrity photos that Fauci celebrated in his diaries. As the mob hounded them, Fauci said nothing as he gushed about his own fame in his diary.
He will say nothing despite the protection of a presidential pardon. For that, he should be rightfully condemned. Fauci’s contempt of Congress is challengeable, but his contempt for the public is undeniable.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
This column appeared on Fox.com
If you needed a blanket pardon, you must be a criminal. Hunter Biden, Anthony Fauci, same levels of evil.
Censors keep blocking this fact
Billy Clinton lied to us, to the Tutsi’s and the world, trying to justify why he didn’t make a phone call on behalf of 800,000 Rwandans hacked to death in front of their children. One phone call would have saved tens of thousands from a massacre.
One phone call to whom?
Look it up.
Trump haters recite chapter and verse for every time he sneezed. Bill Clinton, the most evil, depraved and vile piece of garbage whoever played at being a president, is personally responsible for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, who went on to make a hundred million for a book he wrote about himself and for speaking engagements in Russia.
“It may seem strange to you here, especially the many of you who lost members of your family, but all over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate the depth and the speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror.”
Since he told that lie, FOIA documents prove he knew exactly what was going down.
I think the state attorney generals and perhaps individuals should sue Fauci personally for damages in civil suits. Perhaps the only justice is that he might have to spend his millions in attorney fees.
No one made Fauci hold a publicly funded office. He entered into a contract with the American people when he did. While an individual has the right to not self-incriminate, we paid him and entrusted him to do a job for us. Office holders are accountable for that office. Fauci as an individual can plead the 5th, but his office has no such right and cannot be used to defraud the public.
We are a part of that agreement and owe him the opportunity to explain himself in a manner he chooses. He is allowed to defend himself, vigorously, thoroughly, passionately, like Ollie North, not with Joe DiBola ranting about rejecting vaccines as people die. He is a fool.
Put his office in jail, Joe.
It is now proven and in the light about how Ivermectin and HQ stopped covid dead. As well it mitigated the effects of those so infected with covid. Yet IL Duce Fraudci in collusion with big pharma and the apparatchik system demonized and restricted those two compounds so that the EUA would be able to be instituted which directly had the effect of printing billions in cash for the big pharma and their pushers. Fraudci was down with that from the get go…he is one guilty POS.
From “Biomedicine”, a peer-reviewed publication, dated 9/27/2024:
“COVID-19 was one of the deadliest pandemics in modern human history. Due to the potential health catastrophe caused by SARS-CoV-2, a global effort was made to evaluate treatments for COVID-19 to attenuate its impact on the human species. Unfortunately, several countries prematurely justified the emergency use of drugs that showed only in vitro effects against SARS-CoV-2, with a dearth of evidence supporting efficacy in humans. In this context, the purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the mechanisms of several drugs proposed to treat COVID-19, including Ivermectin, CQ/HCQ, and Azithromycin, and to describe systematically phase III clinical trials that evaluated the efficacy of these drugs for treating patients with this respiratory disease. As the main finding, although Ivermectin, CQ/HCQ, and Azithromycin might have mechanistic effects against SARS-CoV-2 infection, most phase III clinical trials observed no treatment benefit in patients with COVID-19. The evidence doesn’t support the efficacy of these drugs in the treatment of COVID-19, based on the reviewed phase III trials. In this context, future robust studies with greater scientific rigor are needed to focus on new effective treatments.”
STOP SPREADING LIES AND MISINFORMATION. These drugs only work in petri dishes–which is what the phrase “in vitro” means–they do NOT work in human beings. If anyone is being “demonized” it’s Dr. Fauci. The only reason we are discussing it is because Trump lied about it and needs a diversion now away from the disasterous war he started.
“The only reason we are discussing it is because Trump lied about it and needs a diversion”
What are you talking about?! Do you not care about Fauci’s lies? The diary of lies IN HIS OWN WORDS! You need to stop deflecting. Fauci is culpable for every single death. For the lost businesses. For the ruined reputations (of those who turned out to be right). And final, and worst (yes, to me worse than deaths) is the generation of students who lost not only education but emotional and social development.
So, yeah, go use ChatGPT somewhere else. We lived through it. We remember.
Fauci is culpable for every single death.
Research published in March from the University of Oxford also concluded that the drug, Ivermectin, doesn’t provide clinically meaningful benefits for treating COVID-19 in a largely vaccinated population.
I prefer Oxford vs your ridiculous rantings. O yea, thank you all the sympathy you have expressed for Laken Riley
You have never expressed sympathy for Kamarie Holland.
Your public confession. About time.
Dr. Fauci had nothing to do with the creation of the virus—it mutated to a highly infectious form naturally. That’s what a consortium of international scientists concluded after studying the virus’s genetic origins over the course of several years. MAGA media is lying about Dr. Fauci somehow creating or paying for the creation of the virus in a Chinese laboratory. The source was the Wuhan wet market.
Explain just HOW Dr. Fauci is responsible for “every single death” from COVID and where you got your information. If it’s not from a peer-reviewed scientific study, it’s a lie.
Explain just HOW Dr. Fauci was at fault for the decision to shut down schools and businesses—-local health departments are the only ones who have that authority. What actual proof do you have that it was the wrong decision based on what was known at the time?
Explain just HOW and WHY the decision to shut down schools and businesses was wrong in view of the fact that other countries did the same thing before the United States and they had a lower rate of deaths and infections.
Another consideration: how or why was that the wrong decision based on what was known at the time, with new daily records of deaths and infections, hospitals overwhelmed with very sick patients, a shortage of ventilators, and so many deaths that hospitals had to hire refrigerated trucks to handle the corpses. Doctors and hospitals were literally begging people to stay home because they couldn’t take care of more critically ill patients.
If Dr. Fauci had NOT passed on the recommendations of the majority of infectious disease experts, he would have been blamed for causing unnecessary deaths and infections.
Choices as to recommendations (which is all Dr. Fauci did— he had no authority to mandate closing schools or businesses) had to be made based on what was known at the time. Many more people, including children, would have died if schools hadn’t been shut down and and went to distance learning and businesses hadn’t had employees work from home.
MAGA media and Republicans are pushing lies about Dr. Fauci while they can— before they lose control of committees in the midterms—because Trump is trying to rewrite history by blaming Dr. Fauci for mistakes he made—like waiting so long to recommend shutting down schools and businesses and pushing quack cures and ingesting bleach. Just like he’s trying (but failing) to prove he didn’t lose in 2020.
Where do you get your information?
A large clinical trial published in 2022 in the New England Journal of Medicine found that ivermectin did not decrease either hospitalizations or prolonged emergency room stays among COVID-19 patients.
I’ll take the NEJM over you. Thank you.
“It is now proven and in the light about how Ivermectin and HQ stopped covid dead.”
Third world countries would have used these inexpensive alternatives and that outcome would have been discovered and reported. Countries such as India and Pakistan would certainly have jumped on them regardless of big Pharma, as would China.
The New World Order probably prevented all that news from leaking out.
He stated an objective fact, and they called him a narcissist and a liar.
Fraudci Lied , people died. Hardly objective. He is a self aggrandizing Narcissist.
Trump is the one who lied. Dr. Fauci would not support his misinformation because it wasn’t based on valid science–which is what he was supposed to do. The only “self aggrandizing narcissist” is Donald J. Trump.
This has to be the dumbest hill to die on. Fauci admitted, in his own words made at the time he was lying, that he knew he was lying and didn’t care. Deaths didn’t matter as long as he was the center of attention.
Valid science my ass. Science was thrown out the window. The CDC deleted studies from their website. Debunked theories were thrown out as new and valid. It was all trash. We know it. We lived it.
Copy and paste those words from Dr. Fauci here:
What about all of the millions of lives that Fauci saved?
What about the millions of more lives he took , and the millions more maimed by the big pharma scam which enriched him financially and stroked his ego ?.
IMO Fauci may fear the reputational damage he would incur from having to admit his wrongdoing. I come to that conclusion from his diary that reveals a personality that is totally self-absorbed. While the country was suffering, many were dying, and simultaneously dealing with the social, emotional and financial toll imposed on them by Fauci’s edicts, he was apparently enjoying the pinnacle of his career and all the adulation he was receiving not to mention making a lot of money off the crisis. He still enjoys the support and respect of many on the left which he would understandably be loath to relinquish by telling the truth. One thing he can’t hide is his contempt for those he harmed.
Dr. Fauci should have only written how marvelous it was to work for Donald -No Mistakes- Trump. Everyday laying it on thick and juicy, the opposite of the way Trump likes his steaks.
No matter what Dr. Fuaci did, if that was his record, he would be untouchable by the Republicans.
Dude, just stop. Fauci was untouchable by both parties in 2019. He was universally loved.
Fauci threw that away. We watched him do it. We lived it. Now, in his own words, we know the HE KNEW he did it and only cared about himself.
Vlade Dracula needs to sharpen a stick.
I’d prefer Dr. Fauci testify candidly in a closed session first, in case the facts brought forth could provide evidence for other nations to sue the USA. Then, there should be an open session where everything non-injurious to our country can be revealed. Is it asking too much that our internal bickering not damage our country?
693,652,970 vaccines shipped worldwide from the USA.
The sound of your statement reveals that you are thinking like a politician with something to hide or a corporation with something to hide.
What happened to transparency in MAGA world? The guess the Swamp ate it?
no vaccines were shipped. There was no vaccine. It’s a Fauci and CDC lie (redefining “vaccine” on a website doesn’t change what it does or doesn’t do). Oddly, the government agreed to give immunity to big pharma for the people they killed, while also allowing the possible side effects to not be available to those getting the shot. Seemed bad to me at the time and even worse now we know the show killed people and likely saved less.
I want answers. People died. Children lost years of their lives. Business collapsed. The poorest and most vulnerable in our society suffered the most. How can anyone ever defend this windbag?
How can you MAGAS blame Dr. Fauci? WHAT did he do that was wrong at the time, based on what was known, the state of our public health and recommendations of the infectious disease experts? What proof do you have that Dr. Fauci did anything wrong?
All MAGA and Trump do is lie repeatedly, hoping the lies will stick.
If Turley loves freedom so much, why does he side with the orange Hitler?
Turley never made any statement as such or implied it. Too stupid to get facts eh? Typical liberal idiot.
Your comment says more about you.
Hitler how? Hitler was about government control of business and properties. Sounds a lot like a mayor of NYC actually…