Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Wednesday he has issued a subpoena to Dr. Anthony Fauci compelling him to turn over documents detailing his focus on winning financial awards, even as the country was facing the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Uthmeier is working in conjunction with several attorneys general from other GOP-led states. They said they want to explore whether Dr. Fauci misled the country about his activities during the pandemic.
The major focus is the revelation by a U.S. Senate committee that Dr. Fauci applied for more than $1 million in awards in 2021, and appears to have used government resources in crafting the applications.
“Government officials have a certain level of immunity in their official capacities, but if Fauci personally profited off of the ’guidance’ he issued, that very well could have broken Florida law,” Mr. Uthmeier said. “While Fauci was pushing for book deals, awards, and fortune and fame, Floridians were being deceived and harmed by his misrepresentations.”
The subpoenas could create new legal jeopardy for Dr. Fauci, who for decades ran the infectious diseases unit at the National Institutes of Health and became the face of U.S. efforts to combat the coronavirus.
But it could also bolster his case for invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a Senate hearing last week.
The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is slated to vote on a contempt of Congress resolution for Dr. Fauci on Thursday.
He said he refused to answer the panel’s questions because it seemed like Chairman Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, was trying to create a criminal trap.
Mr. Paul has clashed with Dr. Fauci for years, questioning his assertions about the origins of the pandemic and the efficacy of government policies such as masking and vaccines.
In the run-up to last week’s hearing, Mr. Paul also released Dr. Fauci’s personal journal kept during the pandemic, as well as documents showing Dr. Fauci’s pursuit of financial awards.
In 2021, as the pandemic raged, Dr. Fauci was “juggling” eight separate awards and collected $1 million, Mr. Paul said.
Among them was the Dan David Prize, worth $900,000, which Dr. Fauci received in May 2021. More than 14,000 Americans died of COVID that month, according to government data.
GOP senators said Dr. Fauci may have run afoul of federal law if he used official resources to push for the awards. Documents Mr. Paul released show Dr. Fauci’s staff working on award applications.
“A million people dead, you’re getting rich. A million people dead, you’re using federal employees to get cash awards for you. A million people dead, and you’re here taking the Fifth,” Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, told Dr. Fauci during the hearing.
Mr. Uthmeier is seeking documents from the Dan David award, other awards and “professional opportunities” Dr. Fauci pursued, and data on vaccine and booster efficacy.
Joining him in his investigation were West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.
Dr. Fauci received a pardon from then-President Joseph R. Biden for any federal crimes committed from 2014 through the end of the Biden administration.
That pardon would not cover state crimes.
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