Can Republicans Actually Send Anthony Fauci to Jail?

In the immediate aftermath of Anthony Fauci’s tense legislature proceeding connected Wednesday, wherever helium refused to reply immoderate questions and invoked the Fifth Amendment, MAGA figures and Republican officials appeared to beryllium seeking 1 thing: jailhouse clip for the erstwhile White House main aesculapian advisor.

“Why, erstwhile Fauci walks disconnected of determination today, is helium not cuffed?” Steve Bannon, a erstwhile advisor to President Donald Trump, asked connected his War Room podcast connected Wednesday. “People are furious contiguous to chopped connected this and spot Fauci hiding down the Fifth Amendment … He should dice successful prison.”

“Why isn’t helium nether arrest?” far-right podcaster Matt Walsh wrote connected X. “Why isn’t helium facing immoderate existent consequences? Why aren’t you really doing anything?”

Fauci appeared earlier the US Senate committee investigating his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and invoked his law close to enactment silent, known arsenic the Fifth Amendment, implicit 100 times. In his opening connection explaining his decision, helium described Senator Rand Paul, who chaired the hearing, arsenic having an “unhinged obsession” with him.

“The lone decision I tin scope is that the sole crushed helium is calling maine earlier this committee is to get maine to accidental something, anything, that could vindicate his repeated nationalist pledges that I extremity up, successful his words, ‘behind bars,’” Fauci said. Paul has agelong accused Fauci of covering up what could person been the origins of Covid-19.

As calls for Fauci’s imprisonment turn louder from far-right influencers and podcasters, WIRED turned to ineligible experts to measure conscionable however apt it is that Republicans successful Congress could jailhouse the erstwhile nationalist wellness official.

Last year, Fauci received a preemptive pardon from erstwhile President Joe Biden, which covered his actions from 2014 until 2025 and made him immune from prosecution for national crimes during that period, but not thing that helium has said oregon done subsequently.

Republicans similar Paul, however, judge that anyone who has received a statesmanlike pardon automatically loses their Fifth Amendment rights, citing a Supreme Court lawsuit from 1896 arsenic proof. “I deliberation determination is simply a precise existent accidental that helium could beryllium prosecuted for that,” Paul told CBS News aft the hearing. “A tribunal yet would person to determine: Does the Fifth Amendment use to idiosyncratic who already has a pardon?”

Paul said his committee volition clasp a ballot adjacent week connected whether to clasp Fauci successful contempt of Congress, a complaint that carries a imaginable punishment of up to 1 twelvemonth successful jailhouse and a good of up to $100,000. If passed, it volition beryllium sent to the Senate level wherever it would necessitate 60 votes to succeed, which is highly improbable fixed it would necessitate Democrats to broadside with Republicans.

In 2020, Trump pardoned galore radical earlier helium near office, including disgraced erstwhile nationalist information advisor Mike Flynn and his erstwhile run seat Paul Manafort. At the time, US law student Aziz Huq concluded that the pardons opened up the anticipation of contempt if those Trump associates refused to attest earlier Congress astir enactment they took during Trump’s archetypal word successful office.

Bannon himself was pardoned by Trump successful 2021, but lone for circumstantial national charges related to his “We Build the Wall” scheme, whose leaders were charged with defrauding donors retired of hundreds of thousands of dollars successful the sanction of a borderline partition betwixt the US and Mexico. So successful 2022, erstwhile Bannon refused to manus implicit documents oregon look for a proceeding successful Congress related to his relation successful the onslaught connected the Capitol connected January 6, 2021, helium was recovered successful contempt of Congress and sentenced to 4 months successful jail.