Florida AG to launch investigation into Fauci over COVID-19 conduct

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Wednesday that his office is launching an investigation into former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci over his conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a post on social media, Uthmeier responded to Fauci’s Wednesday appearance before Congress, where Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right and declined to answer lawmakers’ questions.

“Fauci's lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable,” Uthmeier said. “My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It's past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID.”

Fauci appeared before the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee to answer questions regarding his role in the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak. He declined to answer questions more than 100 times.

"Although it pains me to do so, because of the respect I have for the legislative branch of government and my decades-long record of cooperating with Congress, under the advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution to refrain from answering your questions," Fauci told the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. 

Uthmeier’s announcement builds on previous comments from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who suggested the state could explore prosecuting Fauci under state law after former President Joe Biden issued him a preemptive federal pardon before leaving office. DeSantis described Biden’s pardon of Fauci as one of his “greatest abuses of power.”

At a Yale Federalist Society event last year, DeSantis said, “We have got a new Attorney General coming in. I think he’s of the mindset to look at this to see what the jurisdictional hooks are, to see what if any (state) statutes may have been violated.”