What Need Has a Saint of Pardons?

If Anthony Fauci accepts a pardon from Biden, History should take that as an admission of guilt.

You may have recently learned of a shocking and inappropriate Presidential pardon. No, I am not referring to the one Biden granted to his son, Hunter. That one certainly was inappropriate, and Biden knows it. There’s a reason he repeatedly denied he would ever do such a thing. Right up until the moment that he did. At a certain level, this is a bad family drama played out on the national stage. It’s unseemly and a betrayal of professed values, but can anyone really claim to be surprised? Hunter Biden has long been protected from the ramifications of his actions. His life has been one long FA without the FO. Why start now?

The pardon I am referring to is still only proposed, but if enacted would be one of the worst abuses in the history of that much-abused Presidential power. Biden officials are floating the idea of a “preemptive” pardon for Anthony Fauci for any crimes he may or may not have been committed. The period of time is as yet unspecified. Given the Hunter pardon covered a whopping 11-year span, it seems reasonable to conclude a Fauci pardon would encompass many years prior to the pandemic itself.

Blanket pardons for Executive appointees would set a terrible precent. It would embolden President Trump (who needs little emboldening). Does America really want, say, a Kash Patel witch-hunting through the FBI, knowing that after four years he’s guaranteed total immunity for anything he does? Even if you agree the FBI is overdue for reform, a Director with an enemies list and a no consequences cheat code is a recipe for disaster.

But put aside, for a moment, the future abuses such a precedent would abet. A Fauci pardon is a travesty of an even higher level. It would deny America an opportunity to seek accountability for what appears to be the worst manmade disaster in US history¹ (and a closer-than-you’d-think second place to only World War II globally).²

I say “appears to be” not because the costs in lives and dollars are in dispute, but because the origins of the COVID pandemic have been obscure, or more accurately, obscured. There is reason to believe Dr. Anthony Fauci, as long-time Director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Disease, played a role in the funding of research that led to the genesis of the virus, its relegation to a shoddy lab in Wuhan where escape was inevitable, and the coverup of these facts. There is reason to believe he lied about this under oath in Congressional testimony, and reason to believe he intentionally used non-government email to evade the requirements of the Government Records Act.

The COVID disaster had many contributing authors, but if this were a paper published by the NIAID, Fauci would be lead. Determining the cause of a disaster should not be a partisan issue. Americans deserves a full accounting, and a preemptive pardon would make that vanishingly unlikely.

Anthony Fauci³ should get his day in court.

Justice requires it.

1. The total cost of the COVID pandemic has been estimated at $16 trillion USD and 1.4 million excess deaths, eclipsing World War II.

2. The Economist estimated global excess deaths at 20-35 million, which still falls well short of the 70-85 million of the WWII era. But mortality is still higher than baseline, indicating that while the virus is a relatively minor health threat, the effects of the COVID policies will have a long tail.

3. Doctor Fauci Gift Candle (in the illustration) is available at Amazon. I am not affiliated with them, but if you want to buy one, here’s a link.