Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he would be “happy” to share the “mountain” of evidence on Anthony Fauci with Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has pledged to probe into the scientist over his handling of COVID-19.
Paul spoke with political commentator Benny Johnson following a Senate hearing in which Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination over 100 times. The senator said he would work with Florida to bring charges against the former public health official, explaining he has looked at federal charges against Fauci, but not state charges.
“I don’t know right offhand what the state charges would be,” Paul said. “We’re open to cooperating. We have a mountain of evidence, and we’re more than willing to share it with people who wish.”
Uthmeier and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) have argued that Fauci had no right to plead the Fifth because he received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden. The pardon does not grant Fauci immunity from state charges, only federal. Paul said he plans to pursue the legality of Fauci invoking the Fifth despite receiving a pardon and reaffirmed his plans to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
“We think he’s guilty of that because all he had to do was answer honestly, even if he answered that he destroyed records, which we believe he did, which is a crime; he’s been pardoned for that,” Paul said. “So there wouldn’t have been any legal liability to simply telling him the truth.”
FAUCI’S FIFTH AMENDMENT ANSWERS MAY TEST BIDEN PARDON AS GOP EYES CONTEMPT
Prior to Paul’s interview, Johnson spoke with Uthmeier, who shed more light on his plans to bring charges against Fauci, saying “nothing is off the table.”
“Because he cared about his own fame, his own fortune, there’s very serious allegations that he made money off of this entire deception,” Uthmeier said. “He nevertheless went forward and pushed things on the American people that took so much away from us: physical harms, economic harms, our way of life. … There needs to be accountability, so we’re looking at any and all violations of state law here in Florida.”
While Uthmeier’s pledge to bring charges against Fauci is a recent development, DeSantis’s disdain for the former COVID-19 spokesman is not. DeSantis appeared in the Fauci diaries released by Paul several times, with the doctor calling him a “total jerk” and “complete disgrace” for Florida refusing to comply with Fauci’s recommendations to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.