Anthony Fauci was preemptively pardoned by outgoing President Biden on Monday – likely out of fear that he could be charged with perjury by Trump's DOJ.
The former White House adviser has long been accused of misleading Congress under oath about the funding of risky virus research in Wuhan before the Covid pandemic.
Although Fauci had not been charged with a crime, there were growing calls among Republicans — including Elon Musk — to charge the 84-year-old with perjury, which carries a penalty of at least five years in prison.
During a May 2021 Senate hearing on the origins of Covid, Dr. Fauci said his old agency, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, “has never and has not funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.” '
But emails showed that Dr. Fauci, NIH head Dr. Francis Collins, and Dr. Peter Daszak, head of the company that distributed grants to the WIV, EcoHealth alliance in February 2020 acknowledged that scientists from Wuhan University were working on GOF experiments to study bat viruses that adapt for human infection prior to the outbreak in Wuhan.
In one email, Dr. Fauci admits that scientists had concerns that Covid might have been genetically engineered and that these were exacerbated by the fact that gain-of-function research was taking place in Wuhan before the pandemic.
Dr. Fauci, whose pardon dates back to 2014, has since claimed he used a different definition of GOF during his Senate confirmation hearing.
If the Justice Department had brought criminal charges against Fauci, prosecutors would have had to prove that Dr. Fauci made a false statement and knew it was false, but deliberately misrepresented the facts.
Although President Trump has not filed charges against Dr. Fauci has specified, Senator Ted Cruz stated in 2022 that Fauci had lied to Congress and criticized the Biden DOJ led by Merrick Garland for failing to prosecute him. The crime carries a minimum prison sentence of five years
They would also have to prove that Dr. Fauci intended to mislead the members of Congress he was testifying for, rather than making an innocent mistake.
It is unlikely that he would have served any jail time. He has no criminal record and since he is a prominent public health official, politics and public scrutiny should be taken into account in his sentencing.
And while the stated penalty is five years in prison on the misdemeanor charge, the actual penalties depend on numerous factors. A sentence on the lower end would be more likely, partly because of his age.
There is precedent, although every case is different. Former President Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, although he was not convicted by the Senate.
In another high-profile perjury case, Trump's longtime political adviser Roger Stone was found guilty of five counts of lying to Congress in 2019 about his communications with Trump in an investigation into foreign interference in the 2016 campaign.
Fauci's pardon makes him immune from legal proceedings over alleged crimes that occurred between January 1, 2014 and January 19, 2025.
Whether or not Fauci misled Congress comes down to a disagreement over the definition of gain of function.
Dr. Fauci and the NIH claim that EcoHealth's research in Wuhan was not aimed at improving the transmissibility or virulence of a pathogen in humans, but rather at understanding and preventing pandemics.
It is unlikely that he would have served a prison sentence. Because he has no criminal record and is a prominent public health official, any conviction would be influenced by political factors and public scrutiny.
At the same time, the NIH's own definition of gain-of-function states: “Certain gain-of-function studies with the potential to increase the pathogenicity or transmissibility of potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs) have raised biosafety and biosafety concerns, including the potential dual-use risks associated with the misuse of the information or products resulting from such research.”
However, critics argue that research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which modified viruses to study their potential to infect humans, clearly meets the definition of gain of function.
In a painstaking 520-page report from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the group concluded that “Dr. Fauci was at the very least misleading.”
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, emails surfaced showing that Dr. Fauci had communicated with his colleagues about the research into gain-of-function experiments.
In one of the emails, dated February 2020, Dr. Indeed, Fauci sent a message to his deputy, Hugh Auchincloss, mentioning “SARS gain-of-function” and attaching an article on the subject.
The emails became public thanks to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
In recent years, Dr. Fauci has clashed several times with Senate Republicans, most notably Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky, who claims he deliberately misled Congress about U.S. involvement in funding such research that she think it led to the Covid pandemic. .
They have highlighted what they consider burdensome.
Although incoming President Trump has not specifically stated what charges he would bring against Dr Ted Cruz by Texas said in 2022, “Dr. Fauci outright lied to Congress. Yet Merrick Garland and the Biden DOJ will not prosecute.” The charge carries a minimum prison sentence of five years.
Emails dated February 1, 2020 show that Fauci acknowledged that “Wuhan University scientists are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine that molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapt to human infections, and that the outbreak originated in Wuhan'
The Allies' Calls for Dr. Fauci's sentences have increased since Trump's victory in November. Elon Musk, who played a major role in Trump's election and has influence over the government, tweeted: “My pronouns are still persecution/Fauci.”
Dr. Fauci was instrumental in developing the Covid vaccines whose record-breaking development timeline has prevented millions of deaths.
The Biden administration press team did not respond to a request for comment on what it believes Dr. Fauci could have been specifically accused and whether the charges had any merit.
Meanwhile, incoming President Trump himself has not said what he would charge the doctor and spent much of his campaign criticizing the doctor for his denial of job gains and his involvement in policymaking that resulted in the closure of schools and companies.
In the wake of Biden's sweeping pardon, Trump rages to NBC News' Kristen Welker: “Many are guilty of major crimes.”
