Will Biden Pardon Fauci?

 

This is not a good week for Washington’s ruling class, especially its media-appointed patron saint of pandemics, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

If an organization such as the conservative-leaning Judicial Watch had requested and published Fauci’s treasure trove of 3,200 emails, the media would have ignored it. But it was the reliably left-leaning Buzzfeed, along with the Washington Post, which did their loyal Democrat best to spin it as positively as they could for Fauci. Joining them were two equally sycophantic outlets, CNN and MSNBC.

But Heritage Foundation and a host of other organizations, journalists, and media outlets – who read the emails – have a decidedly different and more informed take. Unlike Buzzfeed, they didn’t focus on fanboy emails from the likes of Mark Zuckerberg. From Heritage’s Daily Signal:

More than 3,000 pages of emails last year from Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s most famous health official, are now public and prompting calls for a congressional investigation or even his ouster.

The emails from the first half of 2020 reveal Fauci’s skepticism early on about masks to ward off COVID-19, his dismissal of the notion that the new coronavirus escaped a lab in China, and his vague reference to researching how to make the virus deadlier.

He also received complimentary messages from a Chinese scientist, the emails show.

The Daily Signal outlines 11 key takeaways that are worth your time.  Top among them is the congressional response, at least among Republicans, for a full congressional investigation if not his firing (Sen. Rand Paul chief among them).

But as a former political operative, my speculation turns not towards the media spin but what Democratic political operatives in Congress and the White House must be thinking. This is turning into a disaster on several fronts.

First, let’s establish that Fauci’s initial moments during the early, tumultuous days of the pandemic were reassuring to many Americans. He assured us that there was no evidence yet of human-to-human transmission of coronavirus. He said the Centers for Disease Control and the communist Chinese were on top of things. He told us masks weren’t necessary as late as May 2020. The “15 days to slow the spread” lockdown strategy – which turned into most of a year, if not longer, in some states – was essentially his recommendation to President Trump.

Oops.

On Day One of the Biden Regency, Fauci was named the White House’s chief medical officer. He retained his job as the director for the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), where he’s worked for some 50 years. Meanwhile, he found time to write a book. Talk about bad timing on two fronts – writing and then the timing to publish it.

Oops, again.

Usually, controversy helps sell books. When it results in a book being pulled from pre-sales, that’s a problem.

For any political operative, Dr. Fauci has become a political (if not legal) liability. It’s an excellent time to revisit strategies for minimizing or mitigating the damage before it gets worse. And it will. New Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, if not lawsuits for additional emails and documents, will undoubtedly arrive soon, if not already.

It’s not an easy call. The first “rule” that comes to mind for such situations is the “rule of holes.” When you find yourself in one, stop digging. But it is not that simple.

Another rule attributed to legendary Clinton fixer, Lanny Davis, has three components. Tell it all, tell it early, and tell it yourself. Except given the legal liabilities – you know, like lying to Congress, a federal crime – government lawyers will discourage that.

So, the White House has a big mess on its hands. Confidence in the government’s handling of the pandemic is now undermined. And the narrative that all-things-COVID was Trump’s fault, heard endlessly throughout 2020, is now crumbling.

Fauci and Biden need an exit strategy. But Fauci’s “retirement” won’t be enough. He will remain front and center for any congressional or legal investigations or inquiries.

There’s only one ultimate answer that immediately comes to mind.

A presidential pardon.

A pardon would come with short-term political damage to the White House, which will be accused of a cover-up and maybe worse. What good will still exists among Washington’s elite, its sycophants in the media, and its loyal leftist followers may still be retained. And the president’s pardon powers are plenary, as Democrats constantly reminded us during the Trump administration.

It can be spun a few ways. Fauci would need to retire, but Biden (if he’s capable) could pardon him quickly to spare the nation from a political witch hunt and public persecution of “a dedicated public servant who expertly guided us through our darkest days.” Fauci might “reluctantly” accept it, but he is undoubtedly not interested in the legal and public relations expenses he’d need to incur to clear his name (if he could). And with a full pardon, the pressure to investigate Fauci would probably diminish, at least in the media. The Fauci-fawning media would then target Republicans for being mean to Fauci and denigrating his work on AIDS (an appeal to the gay community). After all, this is really about Trump.

Fauci will be spun as the victim. It’s in the playbook.

Many observers will immediately dismiss this political solution. Way too early, they’ll say, plus where’s the evidence that Fauci broke any laws (umm, false statements to Congress?). Of course, spinmeisters will figure out a way to finesse those accusations.

But it is clear, at a minimum, that Fauci’s career (he is 80 years old, after all) is coming to an ignominious end of his own making. No one likes hearing bus tires going “thump thump” as they roll over your career. He won’t be fired, but he will be quietly advised to retire and quickly. Then the pardon, cloaked in victimhood and anti-Trumpism, will soon follow. Then, the hunt for new headlines to put this mess as far back in the rearview mirror as possible.

Maybe Fauci can then publish his book (he may need to add a new chapter or two). And maybe learn to throw a baseball.

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  1. Hang On Member
    Hang On
    @HangOn

    Since when is lying to Congress a crime if you are one of the anointed? 

    • #1
  2. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    A periodic reminder that Nicole Wallace of MSNBC was White House Communications Director during the presidency of George W. Bush and in his 2004 re-election campaign and a senior advisor for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. 

    The party of Reagan? No, just one side of the UniParty.

    • #2
  3. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    EJHill (View Comment):

    A periodic reminder that Nicole Wallace of MSNBC was White House Communications Director during the presidency of George W. Bush and in his 2004 re-election campaign and a senior advisor for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

    The party of Reagan? No, just one side of the UniParty.

    Every time I see her snippets re-broadcast somewhere, I remind myself of her previous Republican associations. It is incredible that she worked for GWB in a visible and important position. But it sure makes me understand that we never really had two political Parties–that is until Trump.

    • #3
  4. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Kelly D Johnston:

    Oops, again.

    Usually, controversy helps sell books. When it results in a book being pulled from pre-sales, that’s a problem.

    I didn’t expect that.

    • #4
  5. DrewInTherapy Member
    DrewInTherapy
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Kelly D Johnston: But as a former political operative, my speculation turns not towards the media spin but what Democratic political operatives in Congress and the White House must be thinking.

    But . . . but there’s no difference.

    • #5
  6. DrewInTherapy Member
    DrewInTherapy
    @DrewInWisconsin

    • #6
  7. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    Big Pharma controls Corporate Media and Congress and Big Pharma likes their “vaxx’em all” Fauci.  He will not face any criminal challenge.   Most of Congress likes being rid of Trump and having the excuse to spend with abandon.   Also, there will be no civil challenges (he is immune).   In the end, he just gave some fuzzy recommendations and your local public health official is responsible.    Expect no justice and settle for Karma.

    I wonder when I’ll meet some foreigner who will ask me why my government killed his grandmother.

    • #7
  8. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    DrewInTherapy (View Comment):

    Kelly D Johnston: But as a former political operative, my speculation turns not towards the media spin but what Democratic political operatives in Congress and the White House must be thinking.

    But . . . but there’s no difference.

    On today’s episode of the Ruthless podcast the hosts played Spot the Dem Operative. Four lines from recent articles written by three journalists and one Democrat operative are read and Holmes and Smug have to determine which one is the operative.

    • #8
  9. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    Given that: (1)  no Emergency Use Authorization can be granted a new drug if there are existing approved and effective therapeutics available; and

    (2) upon the arrival of Covid, the FDA rescinded prior off-label approvals for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, so any new “vaccines” developed under Operation Warp Speed could take the stage, with absolute immunity from liability for Big Pharma in the bargain,

    I’d be looking for who paid and who received kickbacks and bribes, IMO, more serious crimes in addition to Fauci’s lies to Congress. And probably lots of evidence since other people would have to have been involved. Someone will flip.

    • #9
  10. DrewInTherapy Member
    DrewInTherapy
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Someone will flip.

    Been expecting someone to flip on several fronts. Nobody has. They hang together over there on the left.

    • #10
  11. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Kelly D Johnston: But it is clear, at a minimum, that Fauci’s career (he is 80 years old, after all) is coming to an ignominious end of his own making. No one likes hearing bus tires going “thump thump” as they roll over your career. He won’t be fired, but he will be quietly advised to retire and quickly.

    Why does he still even have a job at 80?  Aren’t there mandatory retirement laws?  Or are they just for the peons?

    • #11
  12. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Kelly D Johnston:

    So, the White House has a big mess on its hands. Confidence in the government’s handling of the pandemic is now undermined. And the narrative that all-things-COVID was Trump’s fault, heard endlessly throughout 2020, is now crumbling.

    Fauci and Biden need an exit strategy. But Fauci’s “retirement” won’t be enough. He will remain front and center for any congressional or legal investigations or inquiries.

    There’s only one ultimate answer that immediately comes to mind.

    A presidential pardon.

    This idea had never even occurred to me.  Of course he’ll be pardoned . . .

    Update:  Unless there’s an advantage for Democrats to throw Fauci under the bus . . .

    • #12
  13. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    DrewInTherapy (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Someone will flip.

    Been expecting someone to flip on several fronts. Nobody has. They hang together over there on the left.

    I’m trying to understand. Trump was the President and the Republicans held the Senate. The Democrats controlled the House AND the bureaucracy. As a result, they were in charge. But, I have to say in retrospect, it was not the President’s finest moment.

    • #13
  14. namlliT noD Member
    namlliT noD
    @DonTillman

    DrewInTherapy (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Someone will flip.

    Been expecting someone to flip on several fronts. Nobody has. They hang together over there on the left.

    They clearly have some mechanism in place to assure this.  I wonder what it is?

     

     

     

    • #14
  15. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Kelly D Johnston: But it is clear, at a minimum, that Fauci’s career (he is 80 years old, after all) is coming to an ignominious end of his own making. No one likes hearing bus tires going “thump thump” as they roll over your career. He won’t be fired, but he will be quietly advised to retire and quickly.

    Why does he still even have a job at 80? Aren’t there mandatory retirement laws? Or are they just for the peons?

    Just for law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers and other special category jobs.

    • #15
  16. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Basil Fawlty (View Comment):

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Kelly D Johnston: But it is clear, at a minimum, that Fauci’s career (he is 80 years old, after all) is coming to an ignominious end of his own making. No one likes hearing bus tires going “thump thump” as they roll over your career. He won’t be fired, but he will be quietly advised to retire and quickly.

    Why does he still even have a job at 80? Aren’t there mandatory retirement laws? Or are they just for the peons?

    Just for law enforcement, firefighters, air traffic controllers and other special category jobs.

    The best law professor I had had to retire at 72.

    • #16
  17. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    Given that: (1)  no Emergency Use Authorization can be granted a new drug if there are existing approved and effective therapeutics available; and

    (2) upon the arrival of Covid, the FDA rescinded prior off-label approvals for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, so any new “vaccines” developed under Operation Warp Speed could take the stage, with absolute immunity from liability for Big Pharma in the bargain,

    I’d be looking for who paid and who received kickbacks and bribes, IMO, more serious crimes in addition to Fauci’s lies to Congress. And probably lots of evidence since other people would have to have been involved. Someone will flip.

    Love that comment, Fritz.

    Arguably in my non-legal mind, the  entire management teams at a minimum at the  CDC,  FDA and NIH  should be on the hook for multiple cases of manslaughter.

    Then comes who paid for this?  Who in Big Pharma or was Bill Gates, et al who pushed this through?  The financial legal liability for this should be in the trillions. I mean it TRILLIONS.

    But after that, come,  why did Big Tech and Big Media shut down the discussion of alternative treatments which surely cost tens of thousands of lives if not hundreds of thousands of lives? To my mind we have Trillions  each again in Financial Legal Liability for the Major Networks, Public Broadcasting, Bloomberg, Apple, Google, Facebook and Twitter just to start. Remember, hundreds of thousands of people are dead and millions of businesses have been wiped out.  Where is the just compensation for this taking?

    • #17
  18. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    namlliT noD (View Comment):

    DrewInTherapy (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):
    Someone will flip.

    Been expecting someone to flip on several fronts. Nobody has. They hang together over there on the left.

    They clearly have some mechanism in place to assure this. I wonder what it is?

     

     

     

    The need to leave no fingerprints.

    • #18
  19. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Come to think of it, there has been very little in the way of noise out of the DIA throughout the Trump Presidency. We’ve heard of squirrelly behavior out of the FBI, DOJ, and CIA, but not a peep out of the DOD spooks.

    Heh. There’s an idea for a novel. A counter-intelligence operation being run by one branch of the government on the rest …

    • #19
  20. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Fritz (View Comment):

    I’d be looking for who paid and who received kickbacks and bribes, IMO, more serious crimes in addition to Fauci’s lies to Congress. And probably lots of evidence since other people would have to have been involved. Someone will flip.

    If you’re going to limit your search to bribes and kickbacks, a lot of corruption is going to get past you without you having much effect against it.  

    • #20
  21. Fritz Coolidge
    Fritz
    @Fritz

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):

    I’d be looking for who paid and who received kickbacks and bribes, IMO, more serious crimes in addition to Fauci’s lies to Congress. And probably lots of evidence since other people would have to have been involved. Someone will flip.

    If you’re going to limit your search to bribes and kickbacks, a lot of corruption is going to get past you without you having much effect against it.

    Prefer not to let the perfect be an enemy of the good. Financial crimes can be traced and proven. Other serious crimes can be discovered and prosecuted in their wake.

    • #21
  22. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Unsk (View Comment):
    Arguably in my non-legal mind, the  entire management teams at a minimum at the  CDC,  FDA and NIH  should be on the hook for multiple cases of manslaughter.

    You’re going to run into the Federal Torts Claim act.

    • #22
  23. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Fritz (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Fritz (View Comment):

    I’d be looking for who paid and who received kickbacks and bribes, IMO, more serious crimes in addition to Fauci’s lies to Congress. And probably lots of evidence since other people would have to have been involved. Someone will flip.

    If you’re going to limit your search to bribes and kickbacks, a lot of corruption is going to get past you without you having much effect against it.

    Prefer not to let the perfect be an enemy of the good. Financial crimes can be traced and proven. Other serious crimes can be discovered and prosecuted in their wake.

    Sometimes there are no financial crimes, but there is a lot of devastating corruption.  

    • #23
  24. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Percival (View Comment):

    Come to think of it, there has been very little in the way of noise out of the DIA throughout the Trump Presidency. We’ve heard of squirrelly behavior out of the FBI, DOJ, and CIA, but not a peep out of the DOD spooks.

    Heh. There’s an idea for a novel. A counter-intelligence operation being run by one branch of the government on the rest …

    The DIA withheld info on the Chinese defector for months until his debriefing was done, because they believe the CIA and FBI have Chinese spies in them.  (The timing of Joe’s covid-origin inquiry seems timed to the DIA telling everyone they had had him, so that makes Joe’s inquiry completely CYA.)  I would like to think the DIA are doing the right and patriotic thing, and it would answer the question, “Why now?” but I’m just a little too cynical now for easy answers.

    • #24
  25. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Come to think of it, there has been very little in the way of noise out of the DIA throughout the Trump Presidency. We’ve heard of squirrelly behavior out of the FBI, DOJ, and CIA, but not a peep out of the DOD spooks.

    Heh. There’s an idea for a novel. A counter-intelligence operation being run by one branch of the government on the rest …

    The DIA withheld info on the Chinese defector for months until his debriefing was done, because they believe the CIA and FBI have Chinese spies in them. (The timing of Joe’s covid-origin inquiry seems timed to the DIA telling everyone they had had him, so that makes Joe’s inquiry completely CYA.) I would like to think the DIA are doing the right and patriotic thing, and it would answer the question, “Why now?” but I’m just a little too cynical now for easy answers.

    Sure. Some of the spies could be Chinese, I guess. Easier for FBI, DOJ, and CIA officials to do so, though.

    • #25
  26. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Percival (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Percival (View Comment):

    Come to think of it, there has been very little in the way of noise out of the DIA throughout the Trump Presidency. We’ve heard of squirrelly behavior out of the FBI, DOJ, and CIA, but not a peep out of the DOD spooks.

    Heh. There’s an idea for a novel. A counter-intelligence operation being run by one branch of the government on the rest …

    The DIA withheld info on the Chinese defector for months until his debriefing was done, because they believe the CIA and FBI have Chinese spies in them. (The timing of Joe’s covid-origin inquiry seems timed to the DIA telling everyone they had had him, so that makes Joe’s inquiry completely CYA.) I would like to think the DIA are doing the right and patriotic thing, and it would answer the question, “Why now?” but I’m just a little too cynical now for easy answers.

    Sure. Some of the spies could be Chinese, I guess. Easier for FBI, DOJ, and CIA officials to do so, though.

    When I say “Chinese spies” I mean any sources, including American citizens, which will make the information known to China.

    • #26
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