Three State AGs Subpoena Fauci Over COVID-19 Guidance and Financial Records
The subpoenas mark an escalation of state-level oversight efforts targeting federal health officials' financial disclosures during the pandemic response period — a line of inquiry that could...
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey, and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill have jointly issued subpoenas to former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, according to reporting by the New York Post published prior to today's date. The subpoenas demand records covering the period from January 2020 through August 2026, and are focused on whether Fauci's public health guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic was influenced by personal financial interests.
The three attorneys general are all Republicans. Their legal authority to subpoena a private citizen — Fauci retired from federal service in December 2022 — derives from their respective states' consumer protection and civil investigative statutes, though the precise statutory basis cited in each subpoena has not been publicly released. The text of the subpoenas, which would constitute public records once filed in their respective state proceedings, has not been published in full as of this report.
Fauci served as Director of NIAID from 1984 until his retirement and as a member of the White House COVID-19 Response Team under both the Trump and Biden administrations. His financial disclosures during federal service were filed annually with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and are publicly available through OGE Form 278 filings. Whether the state investigations have reviewed those filings is not stated in available source material.
A separate congressional inquiry into NIH royalty payments — in which the House Energy and Commerce Committee sought records on royalties paid to NIH scientists by pharmaceutical licensees between 2010 and 2020 — was conducted in 2023. That review, according to committee records, identified approximately $710 million in royalty payments made to NIH and individual agency scientists over the period, though it did not identify Fauci by name as a recipient in its published summary. Whether Fauci personally received royalty payments from any entity during or after his tenure is not confirmed in available public records.
What remains unknown: the full text of each subpoena, the specific statutory authority cited by each attorney general, whether Fauci has responded or indicated intent to comply or contest the subpoenas, and whether any parallel federal investigation is underway. The complete OGE Form 278 financial disclosure filings for Fauci's final years of service would be the primary public document that could address questions about his personal finances during the relevant period.