TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier says his office is launching an investigation into Dr. Anthony Fauci after the former federal health official repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment during a Senate hearing on the origins of COVID-19.
“Fauci’s lack of candor to Congress is unbelievable,” Uthmeier wrote Wednesday on X. “My office is launching an investigation into Dr. Fauci. It’s past time we get the truth of what happened during COVID.”
Uthmeier did not disclose what potential Florida laws his office is examining, what conduct will be investigated or whether his office has issued any subpoenas.
The announcement followed Fauci’s appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where he declined to answer lawmakers’ questions on the advice of his attorneys.
Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination throughout the hearing, including in response to questions about the origins of the coronavirus, federal funding for virus research in China and whether government officials used private email accounts to avoid public-record requirements.
Invoking the Fifth Amendment is a constitutional right and is not, by itself, evidence of guilt.
The hearing was led by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who subpoenaed Fauci after releasing more than 1,000 pages from Fauci’s private pandemic diary. Paul argues that entries in the diary show Fauci privately considered the possibility that COVID-19 originated in a laboratory while publicly placing greater emphasis on a natural origin.
Fauci has denied misleading Congress or the public. He said the hearing was designed to entrap him and accused Paul of having an “unhinged obsession” with prosecuting him.
WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 29: Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci listens during a hearing with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Fauci declined to answer questions from the committee asserting his fifth amendment right during the hearing. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“Given Sen. Paul’s obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, his repeated slanderous comments about me, and recently his publicly releasing my unredacted personal diary aimed at embarrassing and intimidating me,” Fauci said, “the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, ‘behind bars.’”
Florida Republican Sens. Ashley Moody and Rick Scott also questioned Fauci.
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Moody cited diary passages in which Fauci criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis over his opposition to lockdowns and school mask requirements. Scott questioned Fauci about his relationship with former National Institutes of Health adviser Dr. David Morens and whether private email accounts were used for government business. Fauci declined to answer their questions.
Republican senators said Fauci’s refusal prevented Congress from obtaining answers about the government’s pandemic response. Democrats countered that the hearing was politically motivated and designed to expose Fauci to potential criminal liability.
Paul said the committee is expected to consider whether to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.
The origins of COVID-19 remain unresolved. Some scientists say available evidence more strongly supports the virus spreading naturally from animals to humans, while others argue an accidental laboratory leak remains plausible. U.S. intelligence agencies have reached differing assessments, and none has announced a definitive conclusion.
Fauci has not been charged with a crime. Uthmeier’s office had not released additional information about its investigation as of Thursday morning.
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