Outgoing President Biden granted a preemptive pardon to Dr. Anthony Fauci on Monday, possibly to protect him from potential perjury charges by Trump’s Department of Justice.
The former White House advisor has been accused for a while of providing false information under oath to Congress regarding the funding of risky virus research in Wuhan prior to the Covid outbreak.
Although Fauci has not faced any criminal charges, there has been a growing demand from Republicans, including Elon Musk, to prosecute the 84-year-old for perjury, a crime that could lead to a minimum of five years in prison.
In a May 2021 Senate hearing on the origins of Covid, Dr Fauci said his old agency, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had ‘not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.’
But emails showed that in February 2020 Dr Fauci, NIH head Dr Francis Collins, and Dr Peter Daszak, head of the company that dispersed grants to the WIV, EcoHealth alliance acknowledged that scientists at Wuhan University were working on GOF experiments to study bat viruses adapting to human infection prior to the outbreak in Wuhan.
In one email, Dr Fauci admits the scientists had concerns that Covid might have been genetically engineered and that these were worsened by the fact that gain-of-function research was taking place in Wuhan before the pandemic.
Dr Fauci, whose pardon extends all the way back to 2014, has since claimed that he was using a different definition of GOF during his Senate hearing.
If the Department of Justice had pursued criminal charges against Fauci, prosecutors would have had to prove that Dr Fauci made a false statement and knew it was false, but deliberately misstated the facts.
Although President Trump hasn’t specified charges against Dr. Fauci, Senator Ted Cruz stated in 2022 that Fauci lied to Congress and criticized the Biden DOJ under Merrick Garland for not prosecuting him. The offense carries a minimum five-year prison sentence
They would have also had to prove that Dr Fauci intended to deceive the Congress members he testified in front of, rather than making an innocent mistake.
It is unlikely that he would have served any prison time. He has no prior criminal record and given he is a prominent public health official, his conviction would take politics and public scrutiny into account.
And while the stated penalty is five years in prison on felony charges, actual sentences depend on myriad factors. A sentence on the lower end would be more likely, in part due to his age.
There is some precedent though every case is different. Former President Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, though he was not convicted by the Senate.
Another high profile perjury case involved longtime Trump 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 involving alleged crimes that took places between January 1, 2014 through January 19, 2025.
Whether or not Fauci misled Congress comes down to a disagreement on the definition of gain of function.
Dr. Fauci and the NIH argue that EcoHealth’s research in Wuhan didn’t involve enhancing a pathogen’s transmissibility or virulence in humans, but rather focused on understanding and preventing pandemics.
It’s unlikely he would have served prison time. With no prior criminal record and his status as 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 reads as follows: ‘Certain gain-of-function studies with the potential to enhance the pathogenicity or transmissibility of potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs) have raised biosafety and biosecurity concerns, including the potential dual use risks associated with the misuse of the information or products resulting from such research.’
Critics, however, contend that the research on bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which involved modifying viruses to study their potential to infect humans, clearly fits the definition of gain of function.
In a meticulous 520-page report by the the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, the group concluded that ‘Dr Fauci’s testimony was, at a minimum, misleading.’
During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, emails surfaced that revealed Dr Fauci had exchanged communications with his colleagues regarding the research on gain-of-function experiments.
In one of the emails, dated February 2020, Dr. Fauci did indeed send a message to his deputy, Hugh Auchincloss, mentioning ‘SARS gain-of-function’ and attaching a paper related to this topic.
The emails became public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Several times in the past few years, Dr Fauci has clashed with Republicans in the Senate, particularly Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, who allege that he purposely mislead Congress about the US’ involvement in funding such research that they believe may have culminated in the Covid pandemic.
They have highlighted what they see as incriminating.
While incoming President Trump has not stated specifically which charges he would bring against Dr Fauci, Sen Ted Cruz of Texas said in 2022: ‘Dr. Fauci flat-out lied to Congress. Yet Merrick Garland and the Biden DOJ won’t prosecute.’ The charge carries a prison sentence of at least five years.
Emails dated February 1, 2020 show Fauci acknowledged that ‘scientists in Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine that molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection, and the outbreak originated in Wuhan’
Allies’ calls to punish Dr Fauci have ramped up since Trump’s win in November. Elon Musk, who was instrumental in getting Trump elected and has sway in the administration, has tweeted, ‘My pronouns are still prosecute/Fauci.’
Dr Fauci was instrumental in developing the Covid vaccines whose record-breaking development timeline averted millions of deaths.
The Biden administration’s press team has not responded to a request for comment about what specifically it believes Dr Fauci could have been charged with or whether the charge had any merits.
Meanwhile, incoming President Trump himself has not said with what he would charge the doctor and spent much of his campaign lambasting the doctor for his denial of gain of function as well as his involvement in policy making that resulted in shut down schools and businesses.
In the aftermath of Biden’s sweeping pardons, Trump fumed at NBC News’ Kristen Welker: ‘Many are guilty of major crimes.’
