Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is the latest state official to launch an investigation into Anthony Fauci after he pleaded his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during a contentious Senate hearing on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic six years ago.
Louisiana joins Alabama and Florida in investigating Fauci, who could face charges in those states depending on the evidence uncovered by their Republican attorneys general.
“Fauci lied. Louisiana and Missouri deposed Dr. Fauci. At the time, he claimed to not recall many key details of his own actions and now we are discovering contemporaneous records he kept,” Murrill said on Saturday. “Louisiana will join Alabama & Florida in investigating Fauci and whether he committed any other offenses that could be pursued in our State courts.”
Fauci has the benefit of a preemptive pardon issued by former President Joe Biden on his last day in office, but that doesn’t protect the former public health official from potential state charges.
Gov. Jeff Landry (R-LA), who deposed Fauci in 2022 when he was attorney general of Louisiana, welcomed Murrill’s announcement.
After Fauci’s congressional hearing on Wednesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the state-level investigation.
“Fauci’s lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable,” he posted on X. “My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It’s past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who presided over the Senate homeland security committee hearing, later said he would share evidence on Fauci with Uthmeier.
Paul grilled Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and former chief medical adviser to the president, several times. In response, the witness refused to answer lawmakers’ questions substantively. Paul has scheduled a committee meeting for Wednesday to determine whether Fauci should be held in contempt for refusing to testify.
The Senate homeland security committee chairman hopes the contempt resolution can go directly to the Department of Justice for prosecution rather than to the full Senate floor. In the latter case, Democratic senators would likely oppose the contempt effort.
Meanwhile, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) is adamant about holding Fauci accountable should the senator become Alabama’s next governor.
“Anthony Fauci is responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Alabamians,” Tuberville told Fox News. “The ‘pardon’ signed by Joe Biden’s autopen doesn’t apply to state-level crimes.”
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“When I’m governor of Alabama,” he said, “I will look into ways we can hold Fauci accountable for all of the Alabamians who died under his watch.”
Tuberville is facing Democratic candidate Doug Jones, an attorney and former U.S. senator of Alabama, in November. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has not publicly commented on Fauci since the hearing. Marshall was one of 17 state attorneys general who signed a letter to Republican leaders in Congress last year, demanding evidence to pursue state-level investigations into Fauci.