Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment over 100 times before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs last week. That's a lot of sudden memory loss from a man who apparently kept contemporaneous records of everything he did.
Now the states are coming for him.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced on August 2 that her state will launch its own investigation into Fauci, joining Alabama and Florida in opening state-level probes into whether the former NIAID chief committed offenses that can be pursued in state courts. The move adds a new front of legal exposure that former President Joe Biden's blanket pardon — which eliminated Fauci's federal criminal liability — simply cannot reach.
"Fauci lied. Louisiana and Missouri deposed Dr. Fauci," Murrill said. "At the time, he claimed to not recall many key details of his own actions and now we are discovering contemporaneous records he kept. Louisiana will join Alabama & Florida in investigating Fauci and whether he committed any other offenses that could be pursued in our State courts."
That's the part that should make Fauci's legal team very nervous. A presidential pardon covers federal offenses. State courts are a different animal entirely, with their own subpoena power and their own jurisdictions full of citizens who spent months locked in their homes on Fauci's recommendations.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who served as the state's Attorney General alongside former Missouri AG Eric Schmitt when they originally deposed Fauci, didn't waste time piling on. "As someone who was Attorney General alongside @Eric_Schmitt, and deposed Dr. Fauci, I am happy to have Louisiana join Alabama and Florida!" Landry said.
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri noted that Biden's blanket pardon eliminated Fauci's federal criminal exposure for covered conduct — which is precisely why the state-level investigations matter. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama made the constitutional point even more plainly: presidential pardons cannot prevent prosecution at the state level.
So here's the picture. Fauci sits before a Senate committee, pleads the Fifth over a hundred times, and apparently believes that between Biden's pardon and his own selective amnesia, he's untouchable. Meanwhile, at least three state attorneys general are now building cases with full subpoena authority, and the very depositions Fauci gave years ago — where he claimed not to recall key details — are being compared against records he himself kept.
The blanket pardon was supposed to be the safety net. It covered federal exposure and nothing else. That's the kind of protection that looks comprehensive right up until an AG in Baton Rouge starts pulling threads.
Four states — Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, and Missouri — have now either investigated or are actively investigating Fauci. The man who told an entire country when they could leave their houses is discovering that federalism works in directions he didn't anticipate.
Turns out "I don't recall" plays differently when the other side has your own notes.