‘This Is Real!’ CNN’s Elie Honig Warns Dr. Fauci Could Face Criminal Charges After Contempt Vote

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig warned Dr. Anthony Fauci could be facing some very heavy consequences soon after a Senate committee voted to hold him in contempt.

Honig joined CNN’s John Berman, Sara Sidner, and Kate Bolduan as a Senate committee led by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) voted on Thursday to hold Fauci in contempt after the former health official invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times when appearing before the committee last week, refusing to answer questions about the Covid-19 pandemic.

Honig argued Fauci had a “valid, legal right” to take the Fifth in front of the committee because his pardon from former President Joe Biden does not shield him from being prosecuted for “state crimes” and anything after January 2025.

“That pardon only covers federal crimes. He could still be prosecuted for state crimes. We know there have been various state attorney general investigations of Dr. Fauci. He also could theoretically be charged for anything after the date of the pardon, after January 19, 2025. And on that basis, I believe Dr. Fauci does have a valid legal right to take the fifth,” he said.

James Uthmeier, Florida’s attorney general, has already announced a Fauci subpoena.

Sidner then asked about the legal power this contempt vote will actually hold going forward.

Honig noted that normally the committee vote would go to a full Senate vote, but Paul does not believe he needs to do that. The legal analyst warned that these contempt votes can lead to real criminal charges, noting both Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro ended up spending months behind bars after being held in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into the January 6 Capitol riot.

Honig said:

Dr. Fauci has not been indicted right now. He’s not under any criminal charge for contempt, but what happens now is going to be the really important decision. It goes over to the Justice Department, specifically by law, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, who’s made a lot of news recently over the reflecting pool case. She, presumably along with the attorney general, will make a decision, do we bring a criminal contempt prosecution against Dr. Fauci? This has been done in different circumstances. But in recent memory, for example, Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, both were prosecuted, they were indicted, they were tried, they were convicted, and both went to prison for four months for contempt of Congress in relation to the January 6 investigation back in 2022-23. So this is real. I mean, the stakes here for Dr. Fauci could potentially be, depending what DOJ decides, a criminal indictment and prosecution.

Watch above via CNN.

Jason Cohen contributed to this report.

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