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Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Sunday said his state is doing “everything in our power to seek truth” amid its probe into Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures” interviewed Uthmeier about his investigation into the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). He described Fauci’s actions while the face of public health against the COVID-19 pandemic as “horrific” and claimed that people “got hurt because of him” when Bartiromo asked if he thinks Fauci committed a crime.
“People couldn’t be there for the birth of their first child or the loss of a loved one because of him,” Uthmeier said. “And if he is making money on the side while perpetuating this fraud, there could very well be criminal liability … We’re going to look at every aspect of Florida law and do everything in our power to seek truth and accountability.”
Uthmeier thanked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) “for continuing the search for truth,” referring to the contentious Senate hearing about Fauci’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. The former NIAID director pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
“Dr. Fauci clearly doesn’t want to answer questions, but the American people still have a lot of questions,” Uthmeier said. “… [Fauci] did not believe a lot of the mandates and protocols that he was pushing. He doubted safety and efficacy of the so-called medical treatments yet, nevertheless, forced them on the American people.”
Uthmeier said the Florida probe is investigating allegations that Fauci made money off the pandemic, “using every tool under Florida law to figure out what kind of self-dealing was going on.”
“Government officials, they have a lot of immunities under the law,” he continued. “We’ve got an uphill battle, but where there’s monetary value increases, and somebody’s going aside from their state job or their government job to do book deals, to seek awards to the tune of millions of dollars, that’s a problem.”
Fauci declined to answer every question GOP senators lobbed at him during the fiery three-hour hearing with lawmakers last month. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Paul chairs, last week voted to refer Fauci to be held in contempt, arguing that the 111 times he asserted his constitutional rights amounted to contempt.
Paul indicated that he intended to send his referral to the Department of Justice to not “waste time.”
Lawmakers are split along party lines as to whether Fauci retains constitutional protections in this situation, given he received a sweeping pardon from former President Biden. The pardon covers any offense the doctor may have committed from Jan. 1, 2014, to Jan. 19, 2025.
The committee’s ranking member, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), wrote to his colleagues that a federal pardon “does not eliminate an individual’s Fifth Amendment protection if they still face a ‘real and appreciable’ risk of federal or state prosecution.”
“Following a one-sided investigation and a rushed process that has repeatedly excluded the minority and other members of this committee, the chairman is now asking the committee to take a vote that could harm our ability to conduct future investigations and disregards constitutional protections long recognized by the U.S. Senate,” Peters said Thursday.
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