Sen. Rand Paul ‘Will Not Rest’ After Biden’s Preemptive Pardon of Fauci

Immediately before leaving office on Monday, Joe Biden preemptively pardoned former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Dr. Anthony Fauci, as well as retired Gen. Mark Milley, members of the House January 6 committee and their staffs, and members of his own family.

In a statement dated January 20, Biden portrayed the government officials who are recipients of his pardons as “public servants” who, “alarmingly … have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.”

These individuals, Biden said, “have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”

With specific regard to Fauci, the outgoing president praised him for having “saved countless lives by managing the government’s response to pressing health crises, including HIV/AIDS, as well as the Ebola and Zika viruses.”

“During his tenure as my Chief Medical Advisor, he helped the country tackle a once-in-a-century pandemic,” he added. “The United States is safer and healthier because of him.”

Nevertheless, in September 2022, Fauci told Canadian Broadcast Corporation regarding the COVID shots: “We don’t have time to do a clinical trial because we need to get the vaccine out now.”

Still, Biden continued his justification of pardoning Fauci ahead of time: “I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics.”

“The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense,” Biden added. “Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.”

In its report on the nature of these preemptive pardons, even the Associated Press acknowledged that Biden:

… has used the power in the broadest and most untested way possible: to pardon those who have not even been investigated yet. And with the acceptance comes a tacit admission of guilt or wrongdoing, even though those who have been pardoned have not been formally accused of any crimes.

Beginning in 2021, Fauci was brought before the Senate Committee on Health Education Labor and Pensions, where Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) vigorously questioned him regarding gain-of-function research and the origins of the COVID-19 virus.

“If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal,” posted Paul following the announcement of the preemptive pardon. The senator added:

As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed. Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception. Ignominious! Anthony Fauci will go down in history as the first government scientist to be preemptively pardoned for a crime.

ABC News Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl posted Fauci’s comments to him after receiving Biden’s preemptive pardon:

“Dr. Anthony Fauci tells me he appreciates the pardon, but he committed no crime: ‘I really truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken today on my behalf. Let me be perfectly clear, Jon, I have committed no crime, you know that, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me,’" Karl wrote, adding, “Dr. Fauci said he is grateful because the threats and possibility of a politically motivated prosecution ‘creates immeasurable and intolerable distress on me and my family.’"

In December, legal analyst Jonathan Turley anticipated what he called Biden’s “white knight” pardons that “could fundamentally change presidential power.”

Author of The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage, Turley wrote Biden was about to be “converting pardons into virtual party favors.”

The George Washington University law professor wrote Monday following the release of the statement regarding the preemptive pardons that “[i]n reality, these pardons will not absolutely protect these individuals from being subpoenaed to give new testimony on prior claims. Lying in such interviews or hearings would constitute new criminal acts...”

“...In the case of Fau[ci], some members such as Sen. Paul have suggested that he lied under oath repeatedly about his knowledge of gain-[of]-function work at the Wuhan lab,” Turley observed. “If called again, he would have to repeat or disavow the earlier testimony.”

Considering Biden’s preemptive pardons, in conjunction with his “declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment is suddenly part of the Constitution,” Turley said Biden’s actions are “the latest use of presidential powers as a type of performance art.”