Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General and UC Berkeley law professor John Yoo stated that any false statements Dr. Anthony Fauci makes under oath before a Senate committee will not be protected by President Biden’s preemptive pardon and could result in federal criminal charges.
Yoo clarified that a presidential pardon applies only to past conduct; a lie told after the pardon’s issuance would constitute a new offense under federal perjury statutes.
Dr. Fauci is set to appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which issued a subpoena after earlier attempts to secure his testimony and records were unsuccessful.
The committee intends to investigate Fauci’s involvement in the COVID‑19 response, the virus’s origins, funding of gain‑of‑function research, record‑keeping practices, and discrepancies between his public statements and private notes.
Senator Rand Paul, the committee chair, has emphasized the need for accountability, asserting that the media allowed Fauci to shape pandemic policy without sufficient scrutiny and that the hearing will demand concrete answers.
Committee members have released excerpts from Fauci’s diary indicating that he privately questioned the wet‑market origin narrative while publicly endorsing it.
In the final hours of his presidency, President Biden issued a broad pardon covering potential federal offenses related to Fauci’s official duties, but legal analysts note that a pardon does not shield future wrongdoing.
Perjury before Congress is a felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1621; any material false statement made under oath at the hearing could trigger Department of Justice prosecution.
The prevailing legal view underscores that the pardon’s scope is limited to past actions, leaving any new false testimony vulnerable to criminal charges.
