Outgoing President Biden granted Dr. Anthony Fauci a preemptive pardon on Monday, likely due to fears that Trump’s Justice Department could charge him with perjury.
The former National Institutes of Health (NIH) has long been accused of misleading Congress under oath about funding risky virus research in Wuhan before the Covid pandemic.
While Fauci had not been charged with a crime, there were growing calls among Republicans, including Elon Musk, to charge the 84-year-old with perjury, which carries a prison sentence of at least five years.
At a May 2021 Senate hearing on the origins of Covid, Dr. Fauci said his former agency “never and does not now fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
But the emails showed that in February 2020, Dr. Fauci, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, and Dr. Peter Daszak, director of the company that distributed the grants to the WIV, the EcoHealth alliance, They acknowledged that scientists at Wuhan University were working on GOF experiments to study the adaptation of bat viruses. to human infection before the outbreak in Wuhan.
In an email, Dr. Fauci admits that scientists were concerned that Covid may have been genetically modified and that these concerns were made worse by the fact that gain-of-function research was being conducted in Wuhan before the pandemic.
Dr. Fauci, whose forgiveness extends until 2014testified on the record on the issue in which Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky read Dr. Fauci’s claim that “the NIH has never and does not now fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” Paul said in the committee. camera.
Dr. Fauci, for his part, has denied that the United States funded gain-of-function research, even though records show the government green-lighted at least $8 million in grants between 2014 and 2021, and then he didn’t follow up. where it was being dispersed.
Although President Trump has not specified charges against Dr. Fauci, Senator Ted Cruz testified in 2022 that Fauci lied to Congress and criticized Biden’s Justice Department under Merrick Garland for not prosecuting him. The crime carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison.
The disagreement centers on the definition of gain of function. Dr. Fauci and the NIH maintain that the EcoHealth research did not involve improving the transmissibility or virulence of a pathogen in humans, but rather focused on understanding and preventing pandemics.
At the same time, the NIH’s own definition of gain of function read the following: ‘Certain gain-of-function studies with the potential to improve the pathogenicity or transmissibility of potential pandemic pathogens (PPPs) have raised biosafety and biosecurity concerns, including potential dual-use risks associated with misuse of information or the products resulting from such research.’
Critics, however, maintain that 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 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 emerged revealing that Dr. Fauci had exchanged communications with colleagues about research on gain-of-function experiments.
In one of the emails, dated February 2020, Dr. Fauci sent a message to his deputy, Hugh Auchincloss, mentioning “SARS gain of function” and attaching a document related to this topic.
The emails were made public through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
It is unclear what charges the Justice Department would have brought against Dr. Fauci, former director of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, although many Republicans They argue that Dr. Fauci is guilty of perjury, a charge that carries a prison sentence of at least five years.
His critics say he misleads the public and Congress when he said his agency has never funded gain-of-function research, which involves genetically modifying viruses to study how they become more transmissible and/or virulent in animals and humans.
Prosecutors would have to prove that Dr. Fauci made a false statement and knew it was false, but deliberately misrepresented the facts.
They also have to prove that Dr. Fauci intended to deceive the members of Congress he testified before, rather than making an innocent mistake.
But proving a false statement in this case is difficult, in part because our understanding of the pandemic is continually evolving and his statements could be a reflection of that, not an intention to spread falsehoods.
It is also almost impossible to prove that Dr. Fauci intended to deceive people.

It is unlikely that he would have served time in prison. With no criminal record and his status as a prominent public health official, any conviction would be influenced by political factors and public scrutiny.

The odds of Dr. Fauci being prosecuted fell to zero in the early hours of Monday’s Inauguration Day, when outgoing President Biden granted a broad pardon to Dr. Fauci.
In the case of the Covid pandemic, many of Dr. Fauci’s statements were based on the best knowledge available at the time.
Since the scientific understanding of the virus and its origins changed as more data came in, it would be a challenge to prove that he intentionally misled others, rather than sharing what he believed to be true based on the information available.
Several times in recent years, Dr. Fauci has clashed with Republicans in the Senate, particularly Kentucky Republican Rand Paul, who alleges that he deliberately misled Congress about the United States’ involvement in funding research that, according to them, they may have culminated in the Covid pandemic. .
They have highlighted what they consider incriminating.
It is unlikely that he would have served time in prison. He has no criminal record and, since he is a prominent public health official, his conviction would take into account politics and public scrutiny.
And while the established penalty is five years in prison for serious crimes, actual sentences depend on countless factors. A phrase on the lower end would be more likely.
There is some precedent although each case is different. Former President Bill Clinton was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, although the Senate did not convict him.
While incoming President Trump has not specifically stated what charges he would bring against Dr. Fauci, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said in 2022: ‘Dr. Fauci flat out lied to Congress. Still Merrick Garland and the Biden Justice Department will not prosecute him.” The charge carries a prison sentence of at least five years.

New emails dated February 1, 2020 show that Fauci acknowledged that “scientists at Wuhan University are known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments to determine the molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses that adapt.” to human infection, and the outbreak originated in Wuhan.
Calls from allies to punish Dr. Fauci have increased since Trump’s victory in November. Elon Musk, who was instrumental in electing Trump and has influence in the administration, tweeted: “My pronouns are still prosecute/Fauci.”
But the odds of Dr. Fauci being prosecuted fell to zero in the early hours of Monday’s Inauguration Day, when outgoing President Biden granted a broad pardon to Dr. Fauci.
Dr. Fauci was instrumental in developing the Covid vaccines, whose record-breaking development schedule prevented millions of deaths.
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But most of the right has turned against Dr. Fauci amid mounting, previously hidden evidence that the former top government doctor quashed dissenting theories about the origins of the coronavirus, whether the result of transmission natural between animals to humans or if it leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located in the original epicenter of the pandemic.
Dr. Fauci’s frequent and heated exchanges with Republican senators on the oversight and health committees. Senator Paul has been particularly vocal, stating in 2021 that the benefit of US-funded functional research under Dr. Fauci’s leadership could have contributed to the start of the pandemic.
In 2016 and 2018, health officials added additional safeguards to EcoHealth’s research, requiring the organization to report if any coronaviruses created in its experiments showed signs of becoming more dangerous.
Despite this, the NIH chose not to send the grants to a higher-level review committee charged with evaluating the risks and benefits of research on pathogens with pandemic potential.
One case occurred in 2021, when Dr. Fauci appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, in which he responded to Senator Paul that the NIH “never and does not now fund gain-of-function research around the world.” “. Wuhan Institute of Virology.’
The Biden administration’s press team has not responded to a request for comment on what specifically it believes Dr. Fauci could have been charged with or whether the charge had any merit.
Meanwhile, incoming President Trump himself has not said how much he would accuse the doctor and spent much of his campaign criticizing the doctor for denying him a job, as well as his involvement in formulating policies that resulted in school closures. and business.
In the wake of Biden’s sweeping pardons, Trump enraged NBC News’ Kristen Welker: “Many are guilty of serious crimes.”