Three state attorneys general subpoena Anthony Fauci over Covid guidance

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Wednesday that his office is joining two other states in issuing a subpoena to Dr. Anthony Fauci, alleging that he “profited” from the recommendations he gave during the handling of the Covid pandemic. Uthmeier, joined by West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, said in a news release that he was issuing an investigative subpoena to Fauci for “an official investigation into awards, professional opportunities, financial incentives, grants, and Covid-19 guidance that impacted Florida businesses and consumers.” “Government officials have a certain level of immunity in their official capacities, but if Fauci personally profited off of the ‘guidance’ he issued, that very well could have broken Florida law,” Uthmeier said. The move comes as Fauci has faced renewed scrutiny from some lawmakers on Capitol Hill over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Uthmeier cited the journal entries recently released by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., that revealed Fauci’s near-daily account of the pandemic as it unfolded during both the Trump and Biden administrations. “Fauci’s diary focused more on self-promotion than the legitimate safety concerns from the mRNA vaccines,” Uthmeier said. “While Fauci was pushing for book deals, awards, and fortune and fame, Floridians were being deceived and harmed by his misrepresentations.” “The public deserves answers to about a million questions related to the pandemic, its origins, and the government’s actions in response,” he said. Uthmeier said Fauci’s entries detail “substantial awards,” including grants, book deals and board positions, linked to his public recommendations as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that affected Florida. Fauci’s journal entries were written during his time as a federal government employee, and they were written on government-owned devices. Fauci has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing related to his handling of the Covid pandemic response. Fauci’s lawyer, David Schertler, did not immediately return a request for comment. The subpoena asks Fauci to provide documents that relate to the alleged “self-dealing” from Jan. 3, 2020, through the present day by Aug. 31. The list includes grants, awards and book deals Fauci was considered for or received, as well as his interactions with Florida businesses, media outlets and communities about Covid recommendations. The subpoena also asks for documents “concerning vaccine efficacy and boosters, natural immunity, potential adverse events including myocarditis risks, messaging strategies, and communications with vaccine manufacturers.” At a contentious hearing last week before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions from Republicans about the handling of the pandemic. McCuskey called his refusal to answer the questions “concerning” in the release Wednesday. “The American people deserve to know if they or their elected leaders were misled or manipulated. Both my Office and I support Attorney General Uthmeier’s efforts to uncover the truth,” McCuskey said. The committee is scheduled to vote Thursday morning on whether to hold Fauci in contempt for his refusal to answer its questions. The resolution is expected to be approved, as it requires a simple majority vote from the Republican-led committee to pass. Paul, the chairman of the committee, said he plans to send the resolution to the Justice Department immediately if it is approved. The Justice Department will decide whether to act upon the resolution, as the committee’s recommendation does not force any action. President Joe Biden issued a pre-emptive pardon for Fauci just before he left office in January 2025. But the proposed resolution argues that Paul “found the privilege of the Fifth Amendment unsupported as applied to questions pertaining to the period of the pardon and directed Dr. Fauci to answer.” It added that Fauci “waived his right” to invoke the Fifth Amendment since he included “subject matter pertinent to the questions under inquiry” in his opening testimony to the committee. At the committee hearing, Republicans attacked Fauci’s past recommendations about Covid and accused him of providing harmful advice and not being honest about the origins of the virus. Fauci said in his opening testimony that his decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right stemmed from Paul’s repeated attacks against him, citing Paul’s “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.”