Biden Issues Preemptive Pardon to Fauci Amid CIA's Wuhan Lab Leak Assessment, State Investigations Continue

Jan 25, 2025, 04:29 PM

In his final days in office, President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon to Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), for any actions related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic since 2014. This pardon, however, does not extend to state or local prosecutions, leaving Fauci potentially vulnerable to legal scrutiny at those levels. The move comes amid a new assessment from the CIA, which concluded that COVID-19 likely emerged from the Wuhan laboratory, a facility whose research Fauci had supported and funded, particularly in the area of gain-of-function research. This assessment supports the theory that the virus may have originated from a lab leak, a notion that has been controversial and labeled as a conspiracy theory by some. The pardon has sparked discussions about accountability, especially as state investigations into alleged misconduct during the pandemic continue.