Dr. Anthony Fauci received a stark warning about U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro Thursday morning.
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig issued his warning ahead of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee's scheduled vote on whether to hold the infectious disease specialist in contempt of Congress.
Honig began by casting doubt on Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argument that Fauci forfeited his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination because President Joe Biden granted him a preemptive pardon before leaving office.
"That pardon only covers a couple of things," Honig told "CNN News Central." "It only covers federal crimes."
Fauci could still face state-level criminal exposure — and Honig noted several state attorneys general have already investigated him – and the pardon only covers potential federal crimes from 2014 through Jan. 19, 2025, the date it was issued.
If Fauci has a legitimate fear of prosecution for conduct after that date, Honig said, he retains grounds to take the Fifth on that basis, too.
"I think Sen. Paul is sort of obfuscating here," Honig said.
Honig expects Paul to argue during the hearing that Fauci waived his Fifth Amendment rights by delivering a roughly two-minute opening statement before invoking the privilege, but he explained why that would not likely hold up.
"There is law saying that if you directly address a topic, you can't then take the Fifth," Honig said. "I don't think that's going to apply here. However, if you look at Dr. Fauci's statement, it was two minutes long. It was very general. It was about the reasons he's taking the Fifth. It wasn't about any of the substance that he was being questioned on."
"So again, watch for Sen. Paul and others to argue that Dr. Fauci, even if he does have some Fifth Amendment right, they'll argue he's given it away," Honig added. "I think that's wrong. But that'll be the argument you hear today."
Honig was skeptical about the odds of the DOJ successfully prosecuting Fauci for contempt, because prosecutors must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt – a bar far higher than a 50-50 or even 60-40 vote the Senate needs on whether Fauci had a right to invoke the Fifth.
But then Honig issued his warning to Fauci about Pirro.
"But important to know the decision whether to bring this charge falls to the D.C. U.S. attorney right now, as Jeanine Pirro, who's in a tough spot with the president after the Reflecting Pool debacle," said Honig. "So what will her incentive be? Will she feel incentivized? Like, 'I have to bring this to please the president – I don't want to displease him again' – or will she look at the law as it is?"