An increasing faction of House Republicans is assembling a case against Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s former leading infectious disease expert, renowned for his prominence during the pandemic. The allegations center around claims that Fauci misled Congress on multiple occasions.
“So, specifically before your committee and also before Rand Paul over in the Senate, Dr. Fauci has, of course, absolved himself of all funding of gain-of-function,” conservative podcaster Benny Johnson said in an interview with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. “He said he didn’t know anything about it. It is verifiable and demonstrable that he lied. Now, there are codes in Congress. I have a code right here, 18 U.S. Code 1001.”
“Statements—false statements to Congress,” Johnson noted. “Says you can be imprisoned; says you can be imprisoned for eight years if you lie to Congress. It seems like there has never been a more clear-cut case of some individual lying to Congress.”
“Yeah, we can do it—there could be a referral, but you would refer to the Biden Justice Department,” Jordan replied. “I don’t know that — they’re going to pursue that, but you can do that. You could have one of the committees, and the Senate Judiciary Committee could make a referral. I doubt they will with the Democrats in charge.”
“We could do a referral potentially,” the Ohio Republican continued. “I would, frankly, prefer just to have Dr. Fauci come back in and take another round of questions here, but we’re building the case. You know, like, we had Dr. Redfield testify, and Chairman Wenstrup did. I thought he was—I thought he was great. As were the other witnesses that were brought in.”
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky conveyed a strong message to the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases following his retirement in December of the previous year.
During an interview, Fauci, who expressed no regrets about his management of the pandemic, was questioned about whether there were any aspects he would handle differently in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Likely, there is no public figure, or public health figure, that has made a greater error in judgment than Dr. Fauci. The error in judgment was to fund gain-of-function research in a totalitarian country—fun research that allowed them to create super viruses that, in all likelihood, accidentally leaked into the public and caused seven million people to die,” said Paul.
Paul accused Fauci of providing misleading information to Congress in December 2021 and indicated his intention to bring this issue to the attention of the Biden Justice Department.
During a Fox Business interview, Paul acknowledged his skepticism about the likelihood of Fauci facing charges from President Biden’s Attorney General, Merrick Garland. He expressed doubts that Garland would objectively scrutinize the congressional testimony of the former chief White House medical adviser.
“We’ve referred him to the Department of Justice, but then again, Merrick Garland is the one now going after parents that go to school board meetings,” Paul said.
Paul continued, “So I don’t have a lot of hope that Merrick Garland is objectively looking at Fauci’s lying,” before making a pointed 12-word statement about the NIAID director: “Fauci should go to prison for five years for lying to Congress.”
Sen. Ted Cruz told the crowd at CPAC earlier this year that Fauci would go to jail under any “sane system.”
“There has been no person who has done more to destroy trust in the scientific and medical community than Dr. Anthony Fauci, who told millions of Americans lies willingly, knowingly, glibly, and supremely arrogantly,” Cruz said.
“Should there be accountability? In any sane system, he would be prosecuted for lying under oath, and he would go to jail for lying under oath to Congress,” he added.