Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently weighed in on the preemptive pardons former President Joe Biden extended to Dr. Anthony Fauci and how it could backfire on the Covid czar. DeSantis leaned in on current speculation that Fauci could be prosecuted at the state level, where the federal pardon does not grant him protection.
During a press conference, a reporter pointed out to DeSantis that while Fauci has protection from federal crimes, he is not immune to state crimes, to which the crowd erupted in laughter. The Florida governor acknowledged it was a “good” question before calling out some recent findings surrounding Fauci Elon Musk’s DOGE uncovered.
“I don’t know if you saw this Elon Musk stuff,” DeSantis began. “They identified 180,000 for a commemoration of Fauci at NIH headquarters. What the hell are they commemorating about Fauci? I mean, at best you can say, you know, you have the Super Bowl of public health, a pandemic, and he totally botched it. That’s the best you can say, without even getting involved in gain of function, research and all the things that went in to that treachery, how you can venerate him.”
DeSantis continued, “At best, you have to admit he got it wrong when this country was looking for leadership. He was on TV … I’ve never seen anyone do more TV interviews.” The governor then quipped, “I was like, why isn’t he looking at the data? And I was like, because he’s always giving interviews. That’s why he’s not looking at the data.”
Getting to Biden’s pardon, DeSantis explained how it actually drew more attention to Fauci. “But the issue so Biden did a preemptive pardon of him, which is odd, because, you know, if he didn’t do anything wrong. So the question is, what about a state action? And I think the pardon made it more likely that states are going to look into it.”
DeSantis further explained that state attorneys general have the investigatory power to look into Fauci. Emphasizing the unintended effect of the pardon, the governor said, “I do think had Biden not pardon him, I don’t think you would have seen the states really do this.” He went on to explain how the whole move could “backfire” on Fauci.
“I think they would have deferred to the Trump administration,” DeSantis noted. “The reason why this could backfire on Fauci is because even if the say Biden didn’t pardon him, if the Trump administration had pursued charges against Fauci in say, DC, you’re not going to prosecute someone from the swamp. If the jury is comprised of the swamp, they will acquit. They protect the swamp.”
DeSantis concluded, “If you start looking at some of these other states, those jury pools gonna be a lot different potentially. So I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it. I do think that it’s very possible that the new Ag in Florida looks and pursues this type of investigation, but I would also anticipate some other states would also do it, so it may end up boomeranging against Fauci. Biden intended to shield him from accountability, that it may have actually sparked state based efforts to ensure his accountability.”
