By The Daily Caller (U.S.) | Created at 2026-07-29 04:17:06 | Updated at 2026-08-04 22:42:00
6 days ago
Anthony Fauci will walk into a Senate hearing room Wednesday carrying a pardon that may no longer protect him.
Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo argued Tuesday on Fox News’ “Will Cain Show” that the preemptive clemency former President Joe Biden handed Fauci covers only what the retired health official said and did before the pardon was signed.
A false statement under oath now would count as a fresh federal offense prosecutors could pursue, Yoo said. Perjury statutes turn on a knowingly false answer, so a misstep alone would not be a crime.
The pardon shields Fauci from any offense committed between Jan. 1, 2014, and the date it was issued. It also includes anything tied to his work leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, his task force roles, or his job advising the president, Fox News reported. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Congressman Who Confronted Fauci Reveals What He Expects From Blockbuster Hill Hearing)
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer made a similar statement, telling Fox News Digital that “Biden’s pardon doesn’t cover Dr. Fauci’s testimony this week and if he continues to lie, he must be held accountable.”
Sen. Rand Paul, who subpoenaed Fauci and chairs the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has also said a lie during the hearing would be a new one the pardon cannot cover, CNN reported.
🚨 NOW: Legal expert John Yoo confirms that Dr. Fauci can be CRIMINALLY PROSECUTED if he commits perjury before Rand Paul's committee tomorrow
"He can't claim that the pardon would cover any of his answers NOW. You can only be pardoned for lying to Congress from before the… pic.twitter.com/SrnKGp8Z44
Republicans point to Fauci’s own diary as the reason for their suspicion that he could lie during the hearing. In a March 15, 2020, entry, Fauci wrote that he convinced New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to shut the city’s schools and pushed him to close bars and restaurants, and he logged a similar call with a top aide to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Fox News reported. But Fauci told the House Oversight Committee in January 2024 that he “did not close the schools.”
Fauci has rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing and cast the campaign against him as political payback from critics of the government’s pandemic response, according to Fox News. His attorneys, in a letter declining an earlier interview request, described Paul’s effort as a drive to see their client jailed, STAT reported.
Paul released more than 1,100 pages of Fauci’s diaries ahead of the hearing, files Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he turned over after finding them on government servers, CNN reported. The Justice Department has already charged former Fauci adviser David Morens, who lacked the same immunity, STAT reported.
