Louisiana launches state investigation into Fauci as three AGs bypass Biden pardon

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced her state will investigate former NIAID chief Anthony Fauci for potential offenses under state law, joining Alabama and Florida in a legal push that Biden's federal pardon cannot block.

Murrill made the announcement Saturday in a post on X, accusing Fauci of lying during a prior deposition and pointing to newly surfaced records she says contradict his sworn testimony. Louisiana and Missouri had previously deposed Fauci, and Murrill said he claimed at the time not to recall key details of his own actions. Now, she wrote, contemporaneous records he kept are turning up, and they tell a different story.

The move makes Louisiana the third state to open a formal investigation into Fauci following his appearance before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, where Fox News reported he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times. Alabama and Florida had already announced their own probes, and Murrill's decision signals a growing, coordinated effort by Republican attorneys general to hold Fauci accountable at the state level, where a presidential pardon has no reach.

Murrill says records contradict Fauci's deposition claims

In her post on X, Murrill wrote:

"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. Louisiana will join Alabama & Florida in investigating Fauci and whether he committed any other offenses that could be pursued in our State courts."

Murrill did not specify which records she was referencing or what they reveal. But the accusation carries weight given the broader pattern. Fauci's private COVID-era diaries have already drawn scrutiny for what they show about his behind-the-scenes conduct during the pandemic, including his relationships with media figures and his efforts to manage public narratives.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, who served as the state's attorney general before Murrill and personally helped depose Fauci alongside then-Missouri AG Eric Schmitt, backed the investigation. Landry posted on X:

"As someone who was Attorney General alongside @Eric_Schmitt, and deposed Dr. Fauci, I am happy to have Louisiana join Alabama and Florida! I know our great @AGLizMurrill agrees as well!"

Landry's involvement in the original deposition gives Louisiana a direct institutional stake in the case. He and Schmitt questioned Fauci under oath. If the records Murrill references contradict what Fauci told them, Louisiana's attorney general has a clear basis for pursuing the matter in state court.

Biden's pardon shields Fauci from federal charges, but not from state prosecutors

The legal opening for these state investigations rests on a straightforward constitutional principle. Former President Joe Biden issued Fauci a blanket pardon covering federal criminal exposure. But as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., pointed out, that pardon has a hard limit.

Tuberville told Fox News Digital that the pardon "cannot prevent prosecution at the state level under the Constitution, which says Presidential pardons cover 'offenses against the United States.'" State crimes fall outside that umbrella entirely.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., made a related argument: Biden's pardon "eliminated Fauci's federal criminal exposure for covered conduct and undercut his basis for refusing to answer." In other words, Fauci can no longer claim he needs Fifth Amendment protection against federal prosecution for pardoned conduct, yet he invoked it 111 times before the Senate committee anyway. That gap between the pardon's scope and Fauci's refusal to testify is what prompted renewed calls from lawmakers to pursue every available avenue of accountability.

Florida AG Uthmeier calls Fauci's lack of candor 'unbelievable'

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced his own investigation with blunt language. Just The News reported Uthmeier's statement:

"Fauci's lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable. My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It's past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID."

Alabama's attorney general has also opened an investigation. Tuberville framed the Alabama probe in stark terms, telling Fox News Digital that "Anthony Fauci is responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Alabamians," and that "the 'pardon' signed by Joe Biden's autopen doesn't apply to state-level crimes."

Three states are now pursuing the same man over the same set of questions, questions Fauci has so far refused to answer under oath. The pattern is consistent: claim memory loss during depositions, invoke the Fifth before Congress, and rely on a federal pardon to avoid consequences. State attorneys general are now testing whether that strategy has a shelf life.

111 Fifth Amendment invocations raise more questions than they answer

Fauci's conduct before the Senate committee is central to every investigation now underway. He appeared before the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and invoked his right against self-incrimination 111 times. That is not a man cooperating with oversight. It is a man who has calculated that silence carries fewer risks than testimony.

The problem for Fauci is that silence before Congress does not prevent state prosecutors from asking the same questions, and demanding answers under state subpoena power. If Fauci's own records contradict what he said under oath during the Louisiana-Missouri deposition, as Murrill alleges, then the Fifth Amendment becomes less a shield and more a signal that there is something worth finding.

Neither Fauci nor his legal representatives have publicly responded to Murrill's announcement or to the broader state-level investigations, based on available reporting. No formal charges have been filed. These are investigations, not indictments, at least for now.

But the trajectory is clear. Three Republican attorneys general in three different states have independently concluded that Fauci's conduct during the COVID-19 pandemic warrants scrutiny under state law. The Washington Examiner noted that Sen. Rand Paul is also pursuing a contempt resolution against Fauci for refusing to testify substantively, adding a congressional track to the state-level legal pressure.

Biden's pardon was supposed to close the book on Fauci's legal exposure. Instead, it may have opened a new chapter, one written by state prosecutors who do not answer to the White House and are not bound by its clemency.

When a man invokes the Fifth 111 times and his own records start surfacing, the pardon starts to look less like a period and more like a comma.