CNN’s Elie Honig Tells Stephen A. Smith That Dr. Fauci Case Will ‘Crash and Burn’ if DOJ Prosecutes

Any Department of Justice case against Dr. Fauci would “crash and burn,” warned CNN’s senior legal analyst Elie Honig in an interview with Stephen A. Smith Thursday.

Honig also insisted that despite Republican claims to the contrary, “anyone in Dr. Fauci’s scenario would take the Fifth, and any lawyer who comes on here and tells you Fauci should not have taken the Fifth, you ask them, ‘Would you have advised someone in Dr. Fauci’s situation to take the Fifth?’ Because the answer better be yes. And if it’s not yes, then they’re not a competent lawyer.”

He continued:

So I think Republicans are wrong here. I think Fauci, like it or not, and I’m not arguing for or against Dr. Fauci as a doctor, his science, his medicine. I’ll leave that to other people. Legally, he had the right to take the Fifth. And now, if DOJ chooses to prosecute him, I think that case will crash and burn because DOJ, if they prosecute Fauci, is going to have to show beyond a reasonable doubt, that’s the highest burden in our legal system, that he did not have the right to take the Fifth. There is maybe some debate here, but they’re not going to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not legally entitled to take.

Honig also said he thinks Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is more likely to try to charge Fauci with perjury.

On Thursday, a Senate Committee led by Paul voted to hold Fauci in contempt for refusing to answer questions. The 8-7 vote was passed along party lines.

“All he had to do was tell the truth,” Paul said before voting began. “There will be another pandemic. The time to determine which legislative reforms are necessary to make sure the mistakes of the past are not repeated is now, not later.”

Watch the above via Stephen A. Smith.

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