Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a formal investigative subpoena to Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday, seeking records tied to what his office calls “self-dealing” during the former health official’s tenure leading the pandemic response.
Uthmeier announced the subpoena in an interview on Fox News, saying his office is looking into whether Fauci personally profited from federal guidance he issued while serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
“We issued a formal subpoena to Dr. Fauci under Florida state law, seeking a breadth of documents ranging to what he knew when he knew it, his doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines that he’s out there promoting, and we’re really focused in on his self-dealing,” Uthmeier said.
The subpoena asks for records on awards Fauci applied for, considered, or received from any organization connected to the pandemic, along with communications involving Florida businesses, media outlets, and communities regarding vaccination sites, social distancing, mask orders, and school closures.
Uthmeier pointed to one specific payout. “We know one award in particular, he made $900,000 on that,” he said, an apparent reference to the Dan David Prize, funded through Tel Aviv University.
“Evidence has come to light that he was trying to personally profit off of this,” Uthmeier said. “This is outside of his government duties, his official role: He’s trying to pursue book deals, awards, get connected with high rollers that might help him come into millions and millions of dollars.”
The Florida probe follows Fauci’s appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment 111 times and declined to answer questions from Chairman Rand Paul, R-Ky. Paul’s committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
Fauci’s team has argued the Fifth Amendment protection stands regardless of a 2025 blanket pardon issued by former President Joe Biden, since that pardon covers federal prosecution only and does not shield him from state-level action. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the committee’s ranking member, made that same point in a letter to colleagues this week, writing that “a federal pardon does not eliminate an individual’s Fifth Amendment protection if they still face a ‘real and appreciable’ risk of federal or state prosecution.”
Uthmeier said the case starts as a civil matter but could expand. “It starts as a civil inquiry,” he said. “But we’re going to tie in all aspects of Florida common law, things ranging from deceptive trade, fraud, public nuisance, nothing is off the table.”
Two other states have opened parallel inquiries. West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey said his office backs Uthmeier’s effort, and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the public “deserves answers to about a million questions related to the pandemic, its origins, and the government’s actions in response.”
