Nearly a year after President Biden’s sweeping preemptive pardon of Dr. Anthony Fauci, legal and political commentators are examining whether the pardon actually shields the former NIAID director from prosecution. Writing for American Thinker, retired physician Ted Noel contends that Fauci may still face charges—not for the actions covered by the pardon, but for alleged conspiracy that continued after its effective date.
Noel’s argument hinges on a recent guilty plea by Dr. David Morens, who served as senior advisor to Fauci at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Noel, Morens acted as a conduit for ‘behind-the-scenes shenanigans’ designed to circumvent Freedom of Information Act requirements, using personal email to keep communications off official records.
The Pardon’s Limits
In 2024, Fauci testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee that he had never deleted official records, obstructed a FOIA request, or been involved with the Wuhan lab or the virus’s origins. Those statements were covered by the presidential pardon, Noel notes. But he argues that Fauci’s post-pardon conduct—specifically, a June 2025 interview with WBUR in Boston where he dismissed allegations of his involvement in creating the virus as ‘untruth’ and ‘severe intimidation’—falls outside the pardon’s scope.
‘This is a continuation of the fraudulent story he had been spinning since ascending the White House podium early in 2020,’ Noel writes. ‘And it was part of a collaborative effort with multiple parties. There’s a word for this: conspiracy.’
Conspiracy as a Continuing Offense
Noel’s legal theory rests on the nature of conspiracy under federal law. Unlike theft, which occurs at a single point in time, conspiracy is a continuing offense. The statute of limitations typically begins at the time of the last overt act. If Fauci’s last alleged act was the WBUR interview in June 2025, the clock would run until at least June 2030. More drastically, Noel suggests that if the conspiracy led to deaths, it could be construed as a capital offense, which carries no statute of limitations.
The article does not cite specific legal precedents or court rulings to support this interpretation, and the claims made about Fauci’s involvement in virus origins, alleged payments to Wuhan, and suppression of alternative treatments are presented as assertions rather than established facts. The original reporting on these matters has been vigorously disputed by Fauci and his defenders.
Morens’ Plea and Its Implications
Noel describes Morens’ guilty plea as ‘the news that the drive-by media won’t report,’ suggesting it provides prosecutors with evidence of Fauci’s awareness of efforts to conceal information. However, the article does not provide details about the charges against Morens or any direct evidence linking Fauci to the alleged back-channel communications.
The piece also revisits longstanding conservative criticisms of Fauci, including his promotion of remdesivir, his dismissive stance on ivermectin, and his role in ‘persecuting medical professionals’ who challenged his authority. These claims are presented without supporting evidence in the article.
A Call for Indictment
Noel concludes by urging the Department of Justice to seek an indictment and conviction of Fauci, writing that ‘anything less is a mockery of our principles.’ He frames Fauci as ‘a key participant in a massive conspiracy that led to uncountable numbers of unlawful deaths,’ a claim based on ‘a vast number of studies of excess mortality, post-mortem exams, and turbo cancers after the mass mRNA poisoning’—studies that are not identified or linked in the article.
It’s important to note that this is an opinion piece, not a news report. The legal arguments advanced by Noel are speculative and have not been tested in court. As of this writing, Fauci has not been charged with any crime, and the Department of Justice has not indicated it is pursuing charges. The pardon granted by President Biden covers federal offenses related to Fauci’s COVID-19 response, and its scope would likely be the subject of intense litigation if prosecutors attempted to bring charges for conduct predating the pardon.
Whether the guilty plea by Morens will actually ‘give the DoJ the jailhouse keys’ remains to be seen. What is clear is that the political and legal battles over the pandemic’s origins and response are far from over.
Source: www.americanthinker.com — https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/08/fauci-may-be-charged-in-spite-of-his-pardon/