So Anthony Fauci walked into a congressional hearing, invoked the Fifth Amendment one hundred and eleven times, and apparently thought that would be the end of it. Spoiler alert: it was not.
As USA Journal reported, President Trump responded to the whole spectacle not with his usual fireworks but with something arguably more dangerous: a calm, calculated question about whether Biden's pardon of Fauci is even legally real.
Here is what Trump actually said. He acknowledged the pardon exists, said he respects the power of pardons, and then casually dropped this little nugget: he is not sure Biden actually signed the thing. Trump pointed out that he knows Biden personally signed Hunter Biden's pardon, but the Fauci one? That might have been done by an autopen, which is basically a robot arm that copies someone's signature. Trump suggested that there are legal requirements for the person operating said robot arm to fully understand what is being signed. And Biden, according to Trump, did not know what was going on.
Now before you dismiss this as typical presidential bluster, consider that the House Oversight Committee is making the exact same argument. Rep. James Comer released a statement saying Fauci is essentially caught in a legal paradox. If Biden's pardon is legitimate, then Fauci has no legal basis to plead the Fifth because he cannot be prosecuted. But if the pardon is shaky because it was stamped out by a machine while Biden was mentally checked out, then Fauci is sitting there with no protection at all. Either way, refusing to answer 111 questions looks pretty bad.
Comer also noted that the Oversight Committee previously exposed how the Biden White House went wild with the autopen, and argued that any actions taken without clear presidential authorization should be considered invalid. He also mentioned that Fauci's personal diary was apparently withheld from Congress by former HHS Secretary Becerra, which is a fun little detail that somehow flew under the radar.
Trump also took a moment to revisit Fauci's pandemic greatest hits. The mask flip flopping. The school shutdowns. The lockdowns that destroyed small businesses and wrecked children's education. All while Fauci was reportedly documenting his own fame in a private journal. Trump pointed out that fewer people died from the pandemic during his administration than during Biden's. That is a factual claim that the media has largely chosen to pretend does not exist.
So what happens next? A contempt vote is scheduled for the following week. Florida has reportedly launched its own state investigation. And the whole question of whether a machine can legally pardon someone on behalf of a president who may not have been cognitively present is now front and center in public debate.
Trump admitted he does not know exactly what the law says on this. But his Department of Justice is apparently about to figure it out. And Fauci, who spent the pandemic telling everyone to trust the science, is now hoping everyone will just trust the autopen.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
