Rand Paul Vows Continued Pressure on Fauci as Criminal Referral Deadline Nears

The statute of limitations expires Monday on Sen. Rand Paul's criminal referral against Dr. Anthony Fauci for lying to Congress about gain-of-function research, but the Kentucky Republican vows to maintain pressure on what he calls the COVID coverup through a Senate hearing this week.

David Morens, Fauci's top advisor, was indicted late last month, but Fauci remains free, Paul wrote this week on X. He has long pressed Fauci during heated congressional hearings and continues urging the Justice Department to pursue charges despite former President Joe Biden's sweeping preemptive pardon of Fauci on his last night in office, Jan. 19, 2025.

The DOJ has five days to indict Fauci before the statute runs out. The clock is ticking. Justice cannot wait, Paul wrote.

The Biden pardon and the Monday deadline shield Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Biden's chief medical advisor. Morens faces charges for deliberately concealing information and falsifying records to suppress alternative theories on COVID-19 origins.

For years, I warned that Fauci and his inner circle buried the truth about Wuhan. Now his closest adviser has been indicted. Fauci lied to Congress under oath. The statute of limitations expires in five days. Will the DOJ finally indict Fauci? Paul wrote Wednesday on X.

The Trump Justice Department, under former Attorney General Pam Bondi or acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, has made no public statements on charges.

While we can all have our beefs with Congress, this isn't in our hands any longer. I did the work, investigated, and sent multiple criminal referrals to the DOJ. Whether he is indicted or not now is not up to Congress. It is up to the DOJ, and no one else, Paul wrote Thursday on X.

He lied to Congress about NIH funding dangerous gain-of-function research in Wuhan and engaged in the worst cover-up in modern medical history. The American people want Fauci behind bars, Paul added in another post.

President Donald Trump has rejected the Biden autopen pardons as having no force or legal effect, though no precedent exists for a new president nullifying prior pardons. Anyone receiving pardons, commutations, or any other legal document so signed, please be advised that said document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no legal effect, Trump wrote in December on Truth Social.

Just two days after the Fauci deadline, Paul chairs a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing Wednesday with a COVID coverup whistleblower. Next week I'm holding a hearing with a whistleblower who will testify publicly about the COVID coverup. Mark your calendars: Wednesday, May 13 at 10 a.m. The truth is coming, Paul posted on X.

Paul renewed his criminal referral to the DOJ last July, alleging Fauci's May 2021 statements violated federal false-statements law. The referral cited Fauci's testimony that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Fauci later said he had never lied before Congress and did not retract that statement after Paul warned of criminal implications.

The referral referenced a February 2020 email from Fauci stating scientists in Wuhan University were known to have been working on gain-of-function experiments involving bat viruses and human infection. Paul argued this contradicted Fauci's testimony.

Paul also cited research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology funded under NIAID Award R01AI110964 that combined spike genes from bat SARS-related coronaviruses with another coronavirus backbone to create chimeric viruses capable of infecting human cells. This research fits the definition of gain-of-function research, the referral stated.

A 2023 Government Accountability Office report found the Wuhan Institute of Virology and Wuhan University received NIH funding for genetic experiments combining naturally occurring bat coronaviruses with SARS and MERS viruses, resulting in hybridized strains.

Anyone making a materially false statement to Congress faces fines and up to five years in prison.

Paul's referral challenged the Biden autopen pardon. New information has revealed that these pardons were executed via autopen, with no documented confirmation that the President personally reviewed or approved each individual grant of clemency. White House staff authorized the autopen. This raises serious constitutional and legal concerns about the legitimacy of Dr. Fauci's pardon, Paul wrote.

Fauci has denied lying to Congress, including in exchanges with Paul. Dr. Fauci, knowing that it is a crime to lie to Congress, do you wish to retract your statement of May 11 [2021], where you claimed the NIH never funded gain-of-function research and move on? Paul asked in a July 2021 Senate hearing.

Sen. Paul, I have never lied before the Congress, and I do not retract that statement, Fauci replied. Let me finish! Sen. Paul, you do not know what you're talking about, quite frankly. And I want to say that officially, you do not know what you're talking about.

The dispute centers on the definition of gain-of-function research tied to COVID-19. You're dancing around this because you're trying to obscure responsibility for four million people dying around them from a pandemic. You are obviously obfuscating the truth, Paul said.

I'm not obfuscating the truth – you are. You are implying that what we did was responsible for the deaths of individuals. I totally resent that, Fauci replied.

It could have been, Paul shot back.

If there is any lying here, senator, it is you, Fauci said, shaking his finger at Paul.

Sitting members of Congress have immunity under the speech and debate clause, while witnesses like Fauci testify under oath.