URGENT: Could Dr. Anthony Fauci face prosecution for refusing to testify before Congress today?

This morning, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination over 100 times at a Senate hearing meant to examine his actions during Covid and his connection to a potential lab leak of Sars-COV-2.

Coming days after the release of a “diary” which showed his main worry during Covid was his celebrity, Fauci’s unwillingness to face questions is publicly humiliating.

But is it legal? After all, then-President Joe Biden issued Fauci a blanket pardon, dating back to 2014, against any federal crimes related to his work during Covid, or before, as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

A UT reader argues that by shielding Fauci from prosecution, the pardon actually forces him to answer the questions Rand Paul and other senators asked him today:

If there are any legal eagles in Trump’s administration - there certainly didn’t seem to be in the first administration, at least between the 2020 election and the 2021 inauguration - they should be able to force Fauci to testify or at least punish him for not doing so.

A person who has been given immunity or a pardon cannot invoke the Fifth Amendment in response to questions directed to the actions that the immunity or pardon covers. Since Biden’s pardon was, to my knowledge, blanket, there is no legal jeopardy to Fauci at all for any actions taken prior to the pardon. Hence, no Fifth Amendment rights.

And you can’t pre-emptively “take the Fifth” because you’d like to perjure yourself. It’s just not available for that.

Fauci should be held in contempt of Congress and the DOJ [Department of Justice] should prosecute him for that. Ideally he should be held in custody until he purges the contempt by testifying fully and truthfully.

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Obviously, Fauci isn’t going to be held in custody. And I seriously doubt the White House or Department of Justice have any appetite for prosecuting Fauci, who is 85 years old, no matter what he says to Congress.

But I am interested to hear what Unreported Truths readers think of this take. (Yes, a lot of you are doctors - but plenty of you are lawyers too! I don’t judge.) Could Paul haul Fauci back before the Senate and demand he speak or face charges for obstructing the investigation? Paul seemed to threaten to do so as the hearing progressed.

Please comment below!

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This morning’s piece: