‘I Hope I’m Wrong’: Ron DeSantis Dumps Cold Water on Odds of Fauci Being Held ‘Accountable’

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) doesn’t see a realistic path for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be held legally “accountable” for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, following Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) warning Fauci he could be facing a contempt of Congress charge.

DeSantis joined The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show on Wednesday following an explosive Senate hearing where Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times as he refused to answer questions on Covid lockdowns, the virus’s origins, and more.

DeSantis, a longtime vocal critic of Fauci, said going after Fauci legally could prove troublesome due to statute of limitation laws, which the governor noted typically only last around five years. To charge Fauci on a state level also becomes complicated, he added.

The governor said:

If you’ve been given a pardon, you typically don’t invoke the Fifth Amendment. You actually can be compelled to testify if you don’t have an underlying legal risk from the conduct at issue. So the fact that he took the Fifth Amendment either means he’s subject to contempt of Congress, which they could potentially pursue, or he’s acknowledging that Biden’s pardon didn’t necessarily cover all the potential lines of inquiry. So that’s more of a federal question there. Now the question on the states is this. You would have to have two things. One, and it would to be a state attorney general… You have state potential with an attorney general. You also have local district attorneys.

Paul informed Fauci at the end of his hearing that there will be a vote on holding him in contempt next week for his refusal to answer questions. The senator, who chaired the hearing, argued Fauci’s Fifth Amendment answers were “unsupported” because of his presidential pardon and the fact that he gave testimony with an opening statement.

DeSantis argued the best time to potentially charge Fauci with anything was during the height of the Covid pandemic.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of significant hurdles to do it. I think the time to have done Fauci was to do it when it was hot, you know, back in that 2020/2021 time period at the federal level. That was where clearly the offenses would implicate federal law. You wouldn’t have to try and do state law,” he said.

The governor said he ultimately doesn’t see the effort by Republicans going anywhere, but hopes he’s wrong.

“I would just tell people, I would not hold your breath that you’re going to see any type of major accountability. I just think there was a window for that. I’m not sure that window is open in a real meaningful at this point. I hope I’m wrong about that. Don’t get me wrong,” he said.

There has been some debate among legal analysts over Fauci’s legal standing. CNN’s legal analyst Elie Honig said the former director of the the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was “probably within his rights” to invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Fox News’ Jonathan Turley meanwhile argued on Wednesday that Paul is entering a “murky” legal area that will likely need to be decided by the courts.

Watch above via The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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