Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced her state will investigate former NIAID chief Anthony Fauci for potential state-level offenses, joining Alabama and Florida in a multistate effort that Biden's federal pardon cannot reach.

Murrill posted her announcement on X on Saturday, days after Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination 111 times during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The Louisiana attorney general accused Fauci of lying during a prior deposition and pointed to newly surfaced records that she says contradict his earlier testimony.

Murrill wrote on X:

"Fauci lied. Louisiana and Missouri deposed Dr. Fauci. At the time, he claimed to not recall many key details of his own actions and now we are discovering contemporaneous records he kept. Louisiana will join Alabama & Florida in investigating Fauci and whether he committed any other offenses that could be pursued in our State courts."

The investigation centers on whether Fauci committed offenses under Louisiana state law during his management of the federal COVID-19 response. Murrill did not specify which statutes or charges her office is examining, but the announcement follows a pattern: Alabama and Florida had already announced their own probes into whether Fauci can be held accountable under state law for what officials in those states have described as maladministration of the pandemic response.

Biden's pardon covers federal crimes, not state ones

The legal opening for all three investigations rests on a constitutional distinction that Fauci's defenders have largely ignored. Former President Joe Biden issued Fauci a blanket pardon before leaving office, shielding him from federal criminal exposure for covered conduct. But as Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., told Fox News Digital, that pardon has a hard boundary.

"The 'pardon' signed by Joe Biden's autopen doesn't apply to state-level crimes."

Tuberville pointed to the Constitution's own language, which limits presidential pardons to "offenses against the United States", meaning federal crimes. State attorneys general retain full authority to investigate and prosecute conduct that may violate their own criminal codes, regardless of any federal pardon.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., made a related argument. Hawley contended that Biden's blanket pardon actually eliminated Fauci's federal criminal exposure for covered conduct, which in turn undercut Fauci's legal basis for refusing to answer questions before the Senate committee. If the pardon removed the threat of federal prosecution, the Fifth Amendment privilege, which protects against compelled self-incrimination, may no longer apply to those same federal matters. Fauci invoked it anyway, more than a hundred times.

That distinction matters. Fauci's repeated refusal to answer senators' questions did not quiet the scrutiny. It accelerated it, and pushed the fight from Capitol Hill into state courthouses where Biden's pardon carries no weight.

Fauci's 111 Fifth Amendment invocations drew bipartisan attention

Fauci's appearance before the Senate homeland security panel produced a spectacle that even Washington veterans found difficult to dismiss. The Washington Examiner reported that Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during the hearing. Fox News put the precise count at 111.

For a man who spent years as the public face of America's pandemic response, appearing on television almost daily, lecturing the country on masks, lockdowns, and vaccines, the sudden silence was striking. Fauci, who once seemed eager to answer every question put to him by friendly interviewers, would not answer basic questions under oath from elected senators.

The questions were not abstract. Senators pressed Fauci on his conduct during the pandemic, his role in shaping public health directives, and his statements during prior depositions. Murrill's announcement made clear that Louisiana officials believe Fauci's earlier deposition testimony, given when Louisiana and Missouri jointly deposed him, does not square with records that have since come to light.

Murrill described those records as "contemporaneous", meaning Fauci kept his own notes or documents at the time events occurred, even as he told deposition questioners he could not recall key details of his own actions. If those records contradict his sworn testimony, the implications extend well beyond a Senate hearing.

Governor Landry backed the probe from personal experience

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry did not wait long to endorse Murrill's announcement. Landry, a Republican, posted his own statement on X, noting that he had personally participated in deposing Fauci when Landry served as Louisiana's attorney general alongside then-Missouri AG Eric Schmitt.

Landry wrote:

"As someone who was Attorney General alongside @Eric_Schmitt, and deposed Dr. Fauci, I am happy to have Louisiana join Alabama and Florida! I know our great @AGLizMurrill agrees as well!"

That deposition, part of a lawsuit challenging federal coordination with social media companies over content moderation during the pandemic, gave Louisiana officials direct, firsthand exposure to Fauci's testimony. Landry's willingness to vouch for the investigation from the governor's mansion signals that the probe has full political backing at the top of Louisiana's government.

The broader pattern of accusations against Fauci related to the COVID-19 response has only grown since he left government. Intelligence officials, congressional investigators, and now state attorneys general have all raised questions about whether Fauci was forthcoming about what he knew and when he knew it.

Florida AG named the investigation's purpose in blunt terms

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced his state's investigation in similarly direct language. Just The News reported that Uthmeier cited Fauci's Fifth Amendment invocations as the catalyst for Florida's probe.

"Fauci's lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable. My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It's past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID."

With three state attorneys general now committed to investigating Fauci, the former NIAID chief faces a legal landscape that looks fundamentally different from the one Biden's pardon was designed to neutralize. Federal prosecutors may be off the table, but state prosecutors in Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida answer to their own electorates, not to the White House.

Sen. Rand Paul has also pursued a contempt resolution against Fauci and has reportedly been sharing evidence with state attorneys general to help build their cases. The Washington Examiner noted that this cooperation between federal lawmakers and state law enforcement adds another dimension to the pressure Fauci now faces.

The accountability question extends beyond Fauci himself. Federal prosecutors have pursued pandemic-era fraud cases across the country, and the broader push to hold officials responsible for COVID-related misconduct shows no sign of slowing.

Open questions remain about the scope of the probes

For all the political energy behind the three-state investigation, significant questions remain unanswered. None of the attorneys general have publicly identified which specific state statutes Fauci may have violated or what charges they are considering. The phrase "any other offenses" in Murrill's announcement is broad, intentionally so, it appears, but it leaves the legal specifics to be determined.

The "contemporaneous records" Murrill referenced have not been described in detail. Whether those records are personal notes, emails, memos, or some other form of documentation, and what exactly they reveal, remains unclear. Their significance will depend on whether they directly contradict Fauci's sworn statements during the Louisiana-Missouri deposition.

Fauci himself has not responded publicly to the state investigations, at least not in any statement captured in the available reporting. His legal team's strategy, whether to challenge the investigations, cooperate, or continue invoking the Fifth Amendment, will shape the next phase of this fight.

The era of former senior government officials facing criminal accountability for their conduct in office is no longer hypothetical. From national security matters to pandemic management, the legal system is catching up to officials who once operated as though their positions placed them beyond scrutiny.

Biden's pardon was supposed to end the Fauci question. Three state attorneys general just reopened it, and this time, the White House cannot sign it away.