CNN host Michael Smerconish argued that Dr. Anthony Fauci should be granted immunity in exchange for his testimony regarding COVID-19, suggesting it would allow for greater understanding of the pandemic. A poll conducted during Smerconish's Saturday show indicated that 87% of the 31,308 voters favored granting Fauci immunity for his testimony.
Smerconish stated that if Senator Rand Paul, who has been questioning Fauci, truly seeks answers about COVID's origins and not just a public spectacle, then immunity would be the appropriate trade. "If Fauci has nothing to hide, then he takes it," Smerconish said, adding that immunity would allow Fauci's perspective to be heard. "Dr. Fauci was excoriated and extolled. What he wasn’t was heard. Immunity is how we finally hear him."
Fauci recently invoked the Fifth Amendment more than a hundred times during a Senate hearing concerning the origins of COVID-19, acting on the advice of his counsel. He explained his decision by citing Senator Rand Paul's "obsession" with prosecuting him, stating any reasonable person following Paul's actions would reach the same conclusion.
Despite receiving a presidential pardon from former President Joe Biden, calls for Fauci's prosecution have persisted from some Republican figures. Smerconish also suggested that Fauci requires additional legal protection, particularly from former President Donald Trump, whose administration has been accused of targeting political adversaries through the Department of Justice. "He has been on a ... vengeance tour ever since he got back into the White House, and Dr. Fauci, I’m sure, didn’t want to end up on that list, regardless of what he said," Smerconish commented.